ICC dismisses Israeli claims of bias in war crimes probe

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected Israel’s claims that the court may carry out a biased investigation into the Tel Aviv regime’s war crimes during its devastating military aggression against the Gaza Strip last summer.

ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda told Israel’s Haaretz newspaper on Friday that The Hague-based court will launch an “unbiased” inquiry into the case.

The court will consider evidence brought by Palestinians against Israel “independently and impartially without fear or favor,” Bensouda said, adding that her “office will be guided by a policy of investigating and prosecuting those most responsible for the commission of mass crimes.”

The Israeli regime launched a 50-day deadly war on Gaza last summer that ended in August 2014 with a truce. The aggression left about 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children, dead and over 11,100 others injured.

In April, Palestinians formally joined the ICC, a membership that enabled them to bring war crimes charges against Israeli officials.

Tel Aviv reportedly claims that institutions like the ICC are biased against Israel and thus prone to unfairly target the regime. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the regime will not allow the Israeli soldiers to appear at the ICC and face potential war crime charges.

Joining the ICC also opens up the possibility for Palestinians to challenge Tel Aviv’s illegal settlement expansion in the occupied territories besides taking the regime to task for its war crimes during the 2014 military aggression against the Gaza Strip.

In January, the ICC opened a preliminary examination into Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians. Israeli Prime Minister, however, denounced ICC’s decision as “absurd,” claiming that the move runs against the international law.

Manchester Jews' anger at Israel

This is while the Manchester Jews for Justice for Palestinians recently censured Israel for its war crimes against Palestinians and its continued occupation of their lands.

“It is well known how Israel has expelled the Palestinian population from their land and enforced a systematic, military and illegal occupation against those that remain,” said the pro-Palestinian group.

It also lashed out at the British government over its complicity in Israeli war crimes against Palestinians through exporting weapons to Tel Aviv.

“We deplore the UK’s complicity in Israeli war crimes, most recently the massacres and destruction of homes and livelihoods in Gaza last summer,” the group said in an open letter published on the blog Mondoweiss.

In November 2014, figures seen by the British daily The Independent revealed that the UK approved the sale of arms to Israel worth £7 million (USD10.5 million) in the six months before its deadly onslaught on Gaza.

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