'Help Israel avoid war crimes charges,' Netanyahu urges US lawmakers
JPOST.COM STAFF, 08/07/2014 13:54
Netanyahu
urged visiting Congressmen to summon their powers in assisting Israeli
officials who wish to avoid trial by ICC, according to 'New York Post.'
Jerusalem
Prime Minister
Binyamin Netanyahu appealed to American legislators to help Israel
stave off what is likely to be a concerted global push to haul the
country’s military and political leaders to
international courts for alleged war crimes committed in Gaza, The New
York Post reported on Thursday.
According to the Post, during a meeting on Wednesday
with members of Congress who are visiting Israel as guests of AIPAC,
Netanyahu urged the American representatives to summon their powers in
assisting Israeli officials who wish to avoid trial by the International
Criminal Court in The Hague.
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The
congressional delegation includes Rep. Steve Israel (D – NY), who heard
the latest from the Israeli premier regarding the tenuous Gaza
cease-fire as well as Jerusalem’s strained relations with the Obama
administration.
"The prime minister asked us to work together to ensure that
this strategy of going to the ICC does not succeed," Israel told The New York Post.
Netanyahu
"wants the US to use all the tools that we have at our disposal to,
number one, make sure the world knows that war crimes were not committed
by Israel, they were committed by Hamas. And that Israel should not be
held to a double standard," the congressman said.
The
Israeli diplomatic and military establishments are girding for a legal
onslaught that could implicate some of the country’s leaders in war
crimes trials.
The
Israel Defense Forces high command has begun to make preparations for
legal battles and anticipated war crimes charges in international forums
in the wake of the nearly month-long campaign against Hamas in the Gaza
Strip, Israel Radio reported on Thursday.
Fearful
of the growing international chorus demanding that IDF officers be
tried for war crimes allegedly committed against Palestinians in the
Gaza Strip, senior military brass has ordered a comprehensive internal
probe of the army’s actions during Operation Protective Edge.
The
Foreign Ministry has not yet decided whether Israel should cooperate
with a United Nations Human Rights Council commission that is expected
to be set up in the coming days to investigate alleged war crimes in
Gaza.
Senior diplomatic
officials said deliberations are currently underway in the ministry to
decide whether Jerusalem should boycott this commission, as it did the
Goldstone Commission in 2009, which found Israel guilty of war crimes
for its actions during the 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.
Although
one senior official in the ministry recommended that Israel not
cooperate with the commission, as there is little chance Israel would
get a fair hearing from the blatantly anti-Israel UNHRC, no final
decision has been made, and Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has yet to
weigh in.
Herb Keinon contributed to this report.
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