FM Liberman and PM Netanyahu on decision of the ICC prosecutor
(Communicated by the Foreign Minister's Bureau/ Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
FM Liberman:
In response to the decision by the International Criminal Court in The Hague [on 16 January], Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman stated that this is a disgraceful decision whose sole purpose is to harm Israel's ability to defend itself against terrorism.
According to FM Liberman, that same court which after 200,000 people killed in Syria did not see fit to intervene, or in Libya or elsewhere, has seen fit to "examine" the most moral army in the world, in a decision based entirely on anti-Israeli political motives. Even the seeming even-handedness whereby both sides will be "examined" comes merely to cloak the aim of maligning Israel. It is clearly impossible to place in the same equation the IDF, which does everything to prevent harm to innocent people, and the terror organizations which fire from within civilian population centers in order to harm civilians. "We cannot accept this, and I will recommend that Israel not cooperate with this 'examination'," said Liberman.
FM Liberman added that Israel will act on the international arena to disband this court which represents hypocrisy and encourages terrorism.
PM Netanahu:
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Saturday evening, 17 January 2015) has issued the following statement in response to the decision of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court:
Israel rejects the absurd decision of the ICC prosecutor. It's absurd for the ICC to ignore international law and agreements, under which the Palestinians don't have a state and can only get one through direct negotiations with Israel.
The rules of the ICC are clear:
No state
No standing
No case.
It's absurd for the ICC to go after Israel, which upholds the highest standards of international law. Our actions are subject to the constant and careful review of Israel's world-renowned and utterly independent legal system.
But this decision is even more preposterous given that Israel is legitimately defending itself against Palestinian terrorists who routinely commit multiple war crimes. They deliberately fire thousands of rockets at our civilians, while hiding behind Palestinian civilians whom they use a human shield.
And here's the ultimate folly of this decision - It is the democracy of Israel, a world leader in fighting terrorism, which is to be hauled to the dock in The Hague, while the terrorist war criminals of Hamas are the ones who are going to be pressing the charges. I won't be surprised if ISIS, al-Qaida and Hezbollah follow suit. See, Hamas has already announced that they will join their Palestinian partner, President Abbas, in filing complaints against Israel as a result of this decision.
So we see here something truly tragic. The lofty goals of the ICC are being turned upside-down.
The court was founded to prevent a repeat of history's worst crimes, foremost among them the genocide of six million Jews.
Now the Palestinians are cynically manipulating the ICC to deny the Jewish state the right to defend itself against the very war crimes and the very terror that the court was established to prevent.