Complaint Against Israel Filed at ICC

[BlindTiresias]

http://www.france24.com/en/20140725-israel-icc-war-crimes-gaza-complaint-filed/

"A French lawyer said on Friday that he had filed a complaint on behalf of the Palestinian justice minister at the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing Israel’s military of having carried out “war crimes” in the Gaza Strip.

More than 800 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza, launched on July 8 in response to Hamas militants firing rockets into the Jewish state.

The complaint targets “war crimes committed by the Israeli army in June and July 2014 in Palestine” in the context of the operation known as Protective Edge, Gilles Devers told reporters.

“Israel, the occupying power, is carrying out a military operation which in principle and form violates the basis of international law,” he said. “Every day new crimes are committed and over 80 percent of the victims are civilians. Children, women, hospitals, UN schools... the Israeli soldiers respect nothing.

“This is a military attack against the Palestinian population.”

The Israeli offensive has left more than 5,200 Palestinians injured, according to emergency services in Gaza, and 33 Israeli soldiers and two civilians have died, too.

The Palestinian Authority, which has non-member observer state status at the United Nations, has not yet signed up to the Hague-based ICC, due to what Devers said were “political” quarrels over the Palestinians’ status.

But according to Devers, the complaint is still valid.

The UN Human Rights Council is launching a probe into Israel’s offensive in Gaza, with rights chief Navi Pillay saying the Jewish state’s military actions could amount to war crimes."

[RobertEarl]

1. We shall see

How much sanity remains in this system of politics and world affairs.

Certainly, given what the US did to Iraq, there remain questions as to just how the system can retain respectability given bush/cheney are not in prison.

[sabrina 1]

2. Let's hope something comes of it this time. Once this invasion is over, and they seem to end these

invasions at certain points, the press will move on, so will DU, to the next shiny object. That is why nothing ever gets done. They know we have short memories. And Israel is likely to end it when they think they have gone just a little too far due to world reaction.

[tritsofme]

3. The complaint is not valid, the ICC has no jurisdiction.

Neither party has signed the Rome Statute, and absent a referral from the Security Council, they could not have jurisdiction.

[former9thward]

5. It is a publicity stunt.

Something to gather some media attention.

[defacto7]

7. "jurisdiction"

Now there's a funny word. That has to be one of the most ironic and useless words on the world stage today.

Jurisdiction.... LOL

Sure enough... none of it is valid, neither complaint nor judgment. Words like those are just toys in little boxes of self-importance that world "powers" play with to control their positions on the stage.

Screw the statutes. Real world issues of tragedy and war should not require a signature, they should be compulsory for all political entities whether they like it or not and should stand accountable for their acts under rules of civility that all humankind understand as the basic innate right to live.

[Unknown Beatle]

9. Exactly!

One poster asks why cheney/bush aren't in prison for war crimes, that's because Obama wanted to expand presidential war powers. By convicting cheney/bush, Obama would have had to scale back war powers.

Now, one has to ask the question, is Obama also committing war crimes with his use of drones murdering innocent civilians?

[tritsofme]

10. Yea that's nice...I commented on something specific

That the ICC lacks jurisdiction to hear the case, you may not like that answer, but that's what it is.

[defacto7]

12. Understood.

My brush is dripping with idealism. It wasn't meant to vote on.

[BlindTiresias]

4. Nothng will come of it, probably.

[ReRe]

6. Thank you France...

... for speaking up against the horrible atrocity that Israel is committing. Again.

[malaise]

11. It won't matter

The real war criminals do not recognize war criminal tribunals.

[Uncle Joe]

8. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, BlindTiresias.