Netanyahu reportedly wanted an investigation to be opened and then closed, with an update filed to the ICC.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to have the country’s attorney general launch a criminal investigation against himself and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant to circumvent a pending request for arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the pair, Israeli media reported.
Channel 12 news, cited by the Times of Israel, said Justice Minister Yariv Levin, acting at the behest of Netanyahu, asked Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to open the probe.
Netanyahu wanted an investigation into the ongoing assault on Gaza and “how the military campaign against Hamas has been handled to be opened and then closed, with an update filed to the ICC” that Israel had investigated the charges and therefore did not require the court’s intervention.
According to the report, Attorney General Baharav-Miara rejected the request “on the grounds it was a blatant ploy and would not satisfy the ICC,” the paper said.
It added that Baharav-Miara also reportedly noted “she has already publicly declared that only a state commission of inquiry,” which was Israel’s highest level probe into the resistance operation of October 7 and “the ensuing war in Gaza would suffice.”
Despite frequent calls for a state commission of inquiry “into the series of failures before and during October 7”, the report said, Netanyahu has refused to do so.
‘State Commission’
Baharav-Miara has pushed for a state commission, “arguing that it would have more independence and scope,” the report added since it would be “the best way to prevent international warrants from being issued.”
‘State Commission of Inquiry’ – Netanyahu Mulls Options to Thwart ICC Arrest Warrants
Netanyahu however prefers a government inquiry and “fears a state commission of inquiry would just be a legal ploy to try to remove him from office.”
“A governmental commission of inquiry is composed of members chosen by the executive branch and typically has less investigative powers than a state commission, whose members are appointed by the Supreme Court chief justice,” the Times of Israel said.
‘Utmost Urgency’
The ICC’s Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, this week pressed the pre-trial chamber to issue “with utmost urgency” arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, along with Hamas’ leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.
‘Ongoing Criminality’ – ICC Presses for Urgent Arrest Warrants against Netanyahu, Gallant
In a submission filed on Monday, the ICC Prosecutor emphasized the necessity to issue the arrest warrants due to the “ongoing criminality” he mentioned in his original request in May and the “worsening situation in Palestine”.
The arrest warrants are “necessary to ensure that they do not obstruct or endanger the investigation or court proceedings, prevent the continuing commission of the crimes alleged and/or the commission of other Rome Statute crimes,” Khan also wrote.
The ICC chief prosecutor withdrew, in his new submission, the arrest warrant originally requested for late Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh who was assassinated in Iran on July 31.
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
Strikes on ‘Safe Areas’ – Israel’s Bloody Negotiations Strategy in Gaza
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 41,118 Palestinians have been killed, and 95,125 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Humanitarian Castastrophe
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(PC, Anadolu)
What a scumbag, and a coward too.