Israel\u2019s Channel 12\u00a0TV reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with ministers of military affairs, army chiefs, low-ranking soldiers and the heads of the Shin Bet security service in the past five years could all be vulnerable to international prosecution.<\/p>\n\n
Israel is not expected to cooperate with the ICC\u2019s pre-trial chamber in the coming 120 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
\u201cThere will be no cooperation with the court\u2026 certainly not if it will eventually be decided to open an official\u00a0probe,\u201d Channel 12 cited\u00a0diplomatic sources as saying.<\/p>\n\n
However, an official in the Israeli prime minister's office said, \u201cA decision will be reached after the legal teams make their recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
On Friday, ICC Chief Prosecutor\u00a0Fatou Bensouda\u00a0said a preliminary examination into war crimes, opened\u00a0in 2015,\u00a0had provided enough information to meet all criteria for opening an inquiry.<\/p>\n\n
There was a \"a reasonable basis\u201d to investigate the situation in Palestine, she said.\u00a0\u201cI am satisfied that ... war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem [al-Quds], and the Gaza Strip.\"<\/p>\n\n
The probe will apparently cover Israel\u2019s settlement policy in the occupied West Bank, crimes during the 2014 Gaza war, and crackdown on the Great March of Return\u00a0protests in the besieged Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n\n
On Saturday, transportation minister Bezalel Smotrich called on Netanyahu to give the Palestinian Authority a 48-hour ultimatum to pull its ICC petition or see the Ramallah-based authority \u201ctorn down.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
The ICC decision has been widely welcomed by Palestinian officials, with President Mahmoud Abbas calling it a \u201cgreat\u201d and \u201chistoric\u201d day.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe have achieved what we want, and from this day on, the ICC machine will start accepting the cases that we have previously presented,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh stressed that the ICC announcement \"constitutes a stand for justice and truth.\"<\/p>\n\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
\"We will make every possible legal effort to try Israel for the war crimes it committed against our people in the Gaza Strip, al-Quds\u00a0and the West Bank,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>","content_source":"","content_url":"","content_columns":"0","content_date_start":"2019-12-22 14:22:33","content_date_finish":"2019-12-22 14:22:33","content_date_register":"2019-12-22 14:24:35","content_date_last_edit":"2019-12-22 14:24:35","content_show_img":"1","content_show_details":"0","content_show_related_img":"0","content_show_slider":"1","content_show_title_slider":"1","content_comment":"1","content_score":"0","content_recorded":"0","content_confirmed":"0","content_status":"1","content_kind":"0","tag_id":null,"tag_word":null,"tag_service":null,"tag_total":null,"tag_soundex":null,"attach_token":"3991611060","attach_date_register":"2019-12-22 14:24:32","attach_id":"6817","attach_file_ext":"jpg","attach_file_header":"image\/jpeg","attach_img_type":"2","attach_img_width":"625","attach_img_height":"400","attach_file_media":"1","attach_show_watermark":"0","score_average":null,"score_count":null,"score_date_last":null,"visit_count":"451","visit_date_last":"2024-11-02 08:05:23","attach_title":"Israel fears ICC could hunt its top leaders for war crimes 2","node_title":"News,Ordinary","ot_node_left_right":"[{\"node_id\":98, \"left\":2, \"right\":11},{\"node_id\":127, \"left\":66, \"right\":67}]","node_number":"2","allowable_node":"2"}]]