‘Spying on ICC’: Netherlands summons Israel envoy for explanation

ER Editor: The PressTV piece below gains context from this Guardian article from last month, worth reading in full —

Spying, hacking and intimidation: Israel’s nine-year ‘war’ on the ICC exposed

When the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) announced he was seeking arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders, he issued a cryptic warning: “I insist that all attempts to impede, intimidate or improperly influence the officials of this court must cease immediately.”

Karim Khan did not provide specific details of attempts to interfere in the ICC’s work, but he noted a clause in the court’s foundational treaty that made any such interference a criminal offence. If the conduct continued, he added, “my office will not hesitate to act”.

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Details of Israel’s nine-year campaign to thwart the ICC’s inquiry have been uncovered by the Guardian, an Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Local Call, a Hebrew-language outlet.

The joint investigation draws on interviews with more than two dozen current and former Israeli intelligence officers and government officials, senior ICC figures, diplomats and lawyers familiar with the ICC case and Israel’s efforts to undermine it. …

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‘Spying on ICC’: Netherlands summons Israel envoy for explanation

The seat of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, the Netherlands (File photo)

“Israeli ambassador has been asked to report to the [Dutch] Ministry of Foreign Affairs in connection with the allegations,” a spokesman for Dutch Foreign Minister Hanke Bruins Slot said on Tuesday.

“The [Dutch] government regards such activities as a form of undesirable foreign interference and considers it totally undesirable,” the ministry also said.

As the host state of the ICC, the Netherlands is obliged under an agreement with the court to protect the safety and security of the ICC’s staff, and ensure that the tribunal is “free from interference of any kind.”

The allegations involving the Israeli regime have blamed it for carrying out a decade-long “war” of espionage against the ICC by intercepting phone calls, messages, emails, and documents pertaining to the court’s officials.

The targeted officials have included Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan and his predecessor Fatou Bensouda.

Khan announced last month that he had applied for arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Netanyahu and Minister for Military Affairs Yoav Gallant for crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

The move by Khan came amid an October-present war by the regime against the Palestinian territory.

At least 37,765 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have died as a result of the brutal military onslaught that began following a retaliatory operation carried out by Gaza’s resistance groups.

Source

Featured image source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/28/spying-hacking-intimidation-israel-war-icc-exposed

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Published to The Liberty Beacon from EuropeReloaded.com

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