An article in the Independent by James Crump (“Trump announces sanctions on International Criminal Court to stop alleged US war crimes being investigated”, June 12) included the following sentence noting that the International Criminal Court (ICC) may target Israel, as well as the US.
Earlier this year, the ICC accepted Palestine as a state, which means the organisation is now able to investigate alleged war crimes perpetrated by Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to the Israel Times [sic]
However, as we noted to the reporter in the following tweet, the ICC will be investigating the Palestinians (Hamas) for war crimes, as well as Israel – a fact reported by his colleague in a previous report.
Your reference @Independent to ICC investigations (left snapshot) neglected to note that the probe could result in charges against both Israelis AND Palestinians.
Please see this (right snapshot) from your colleague @Beltrew
Source: https://t.co/eYQUtsSrGo pic.twitter.com/uV60pW5VsW
— CAMERA UK (formerly UK Media Watch and BBC Watch) (@CAMERAorgUK) June 14, 2020
To his credit, Crump promptly responded to thank us for flagging the omission, and noting that the following sentence was added:
The investigation is not limited to just Israel, and will explore alleged crimes committed by all sides, including by the militant group, Hamas.
In January, CAMERA UK prompted a similar correction to an article in The Telegraph about the ICC investigation.
“The investigation is not limited to just Israel, and will explore alleged crimes committed by all sides, including by the militant group, Hamas.” Everything that has been published on this subject in the name of the ICC focusses disproportionally upon supposed Israeli ‘war crimes” and violations of international legal obligations. (The ICC has also given credence to the false arguments attacking Israel for the “crime” of the “settlements”
A preferable correction would be: “The ICC has stated that the investigation is not limited to just Israel, and will explore alleged crimes committed by all sides, including by the militant group, Hamas.” Can it seriously be believed that the ICC will make real efforts to “explore” the crimes committed by Hamas?