You really do have to love the irony. Because Gaza is not a territory or state of any official entity, the ICC prosecutor says the ICC has no jurisdiction over it.
The International Criminal Court prosecutor in The Hague said on Wednesday it lacks jurisdiction to investigate war crimes allegedly committed in the Gaza Strip.
The prosecutor’s statement came after a Palestinian rights group called on the ICC to investigate Israel for committing war crimes during its 19-day-old offensive in Gaza. The office of the prosecutor said the court’s jurisdiction is limited to war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide committed on the territory of, or by a national of, a state party.
Look at that. Israel wins this one without even trying.
However, I won’t be surprised if the ICC doesn’t reverse this decision and decide that it does, indeed, have jurisdiction in this case.
This is not a win. It’s a statement that everything Hamas does is legal according to international law, because Hamas members are not nationals of a state.
Let’s imagine the Iranians smuggle in some kind of wmd that can be delivered on one of these small rockets that Hamas likes to fire. Suddenly rough aim will be good enough and you have an act that is, in principle, an act of genocide but that is also beyond prosecution and, therefore, defacto legal.
Very dangerous.
Israel never signed up (neither did the US) so the whole thing makes no difference either.
Actually the statement said that they claim “jurisdiction” when a crime is created on the territory of or byt the national of a state. Thus, they claim jurisdiction on war crimes committed on the territory of Israel or by an Israeli anywhere. The only crimes they would not have jurisdiction over is by Hamas inside Gaza. However, it does sound as if they may claim that since the rockets fired at Sderot and other locations inside Israel come from Gaza, the crime was not “committed” within the territory of a state (letting Hamas off the hook).