Israel/Palestine

Anne Herzberg, a legal adviser to NGO Monitor, said however that the move was however significant since it would force the Pre Trial Chamber to deal with the issue [of whether Palestinian authorities claiming jurisdiction over Israeli nationals and then transferring that jurisdiction over to the ICC to prosecute Israelis is a violation of the Oslo Accords].

Herzberg said that in February 2021, the Pre Trial Chamber had allowed the Prosecutor to move forward with an investigation of Israel but that it had “ignored that the Oslo Accords fully barred the Palestinians from delegating criminal jurisdiction over Israelis to the ICC.”

Continued Herzberg “The UK filing, which the ICC tried to keep secret, forces the Pre Trial Chamber to address this issue, which if the Court actually applies the law, will require the rejection of the Prosecutor’s request for warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.”

She said she hoped that now the hearing is public, “additional countries of conscience will step in and demand the Court end the Prosecutor’s egregious jurisdictional overreach.”