Following ICC application, Israel freezes $125 million in Palestinian tax funds

[azurnoir]

Israel has begun implementing economic sanctions against the Palestinians and is looking at ways to prosecute senior Palestinians for war crimes in the United States and elsewhere in response to Palestinian steps to join the International Criminal Court, Israeli officials said on Saturday.

Meanwhile, an Israeli official told Reuters the Palestinian leaders "ought to fear legal steps" after their decision to sign onto the Rome Statute.


"Israel is weighing the possibilities for large-scale prosecution in the United States and elsewhere" of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and other senior Palestinians, the official said.


Israel would probably press these cases via non-governmental groups and pro-Israel legal organisations capable of filing lawsuits abroad, a second Israeli official said, explaining how the mechanism might work.



http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4610793,00.html

[Scootaloo]

1. I.e., steals $125m from Palestine

[azurnoir]

2. I found the threats to clog up the US court system with multiple lawsuits against the PA interesting

I'm thinking this would be the task of Shurat HaDin the Israeli lawfare outfit that regularly does this, their latest target has been of course the Presbyterian Church and in the past they have targeted Jimmy Carter

[bemildred]

10. It's going to be a tough fight, Dershowitz is going to be busy.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

12. With what?

Allegations of sexual misconduct?

[bemildred]

14. Well it's ambiguous really.

It can be allegations of sexual misconduct, or it could be all the war crimes suits and whatnot. Take your pick.

[shira]

4. Palestinians owe Israel much more for electric power.

They owe Israel 1,700,843,315 NIS

That's $429,533,062 USD.

[Scootaloo]

5. They can take it off the tab Israel owes Palestine

After seventy years it's grown rather substantial.

[shira]

6. And that can be taken off the tab of over 70 years of violence, terror, destruction...

...against Israelis.

[Scootaloo]

7. Oh Shira, my poor dear...

Poles don't owe Mongolia a damn thing.
Austria doesn't owe Turkey anything.
The Lakota do not owe the United States
China does not owe Japan
Kuwait does not owe Iraq
Ukraine does not owe Russia
Palestine does not owe Israel

Being an invading barbarian horde carries inherent risks. One of those is that the locals might try to kil lyou while you pillage. Them's the breaks when you're being a cossack.

[Eugene]

3. US opposes Israeli tax freeze on Palestinians

Source: BBC

5 January 2015 Last updated at 23:00 GMT

US opposes Israeli tax freeze on Palestinians

The US says it is opposed to a move by Israel to halt the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority.

Israel took the step in retaliation for the Palestinian bid to join the International Criminal Court (ICC).

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the Israeli move would raise tensions.

"We call on both sides to avoid action that raises tensions and makes it difficult to return to direct negotiations. Obviously this action would qualify in that category," she said.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30691775

[bemildred]

9. Well they are already stealing the land, why not the money too? nt

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

11. Land, money, culture, lives...

What's left?

[King_David]

13. Cultural theft?

Like Felafel and Hummus and Schwarma?

[bemildred]

15. Algebra. nt

[oberliner]

16. Algebra was a gift to 9th graders everywhere

And they are still paying for it.

[bemildred]

18. I remember it well. One of my few "C"s is 9th grade algebra.

At that point in time the main thing I was interested in was girls and avoiding bullies. Only later did I come to learn the joys of formal reasoning.

I suppose that is why it comes so promptly to mind when The King and the Robot raise the subject of cultural appropriation. Some people think that imitation is sincere flattery. I tend to think that way. Some people think that if you think you are the first to think of an idea, that means everybody else owes you for using it, it's your idea. I think that's, well, silly, and clearly driven by an inflated view of ones own importance in the scheme of things.

[King_David]

20. True

But that was stolen by mankind.

[bemildred]

21. We have all been habitual thieves since the beginning. nt

[oberliner]

17. How long until they unfreeze?

They tend to do this a lot.

[bemildred]

19. Good point.

Bibi is desperate for postures to assume, it being election season, and this one is an old go to. Nevertheless, it looks bad.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

22. Speaking of freezing...

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/16262-palestinian-prisoners-face-slow-death-from-freezing-temperatures-in-israeli-jails

Palestinian prisoners face slow death from freezing temperatures in Israeli jails

Head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Committee, Issa Qaraqe, has confirmed that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are facing "very difficult" conditions because they are denied proper clothes and cover for the extreme winter weather, Qudsnet reported.

"The Israeli occupation is using the extremely cold weather to kill the Palestinian prisoners as its interrogators expose them to the cold weather in order to extract confessions," he said.

Qaraqe said that the Israeli Prisons' Services categorically refused to allow clothes and covers for the prisoners; they have instead obliged them to buy only light covers from prisons' canteens for high prices.

On the measures to sort out the problem, Qaraqe said that his committee met the International Red Cross, who attempted to send the needed clothes and covers for the prisoners, but the Israeli authorities refused.