This Is Why We Thank God Every Day Hillary Isn’t President

In June of 2018, the “State of Palestine” submitted to the International Criminal Court a “so-called” state referral to investigate “past, ongoing and future crimes with the court’s jurisdiction, committed in all parts of the territory” defined as the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.”

Three International Criminal Court judges, Péter Kovács, Marc Perrin de Brichambaut and Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou have been going out of their way to cater to Palestine in preparation of a trial, despite the fact Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has not yet decided to open an investigation.

Alan Baker, Director of the International Law Program at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, adamantly believes the court is openly turning itself into Israel-bashing engine similar to the United Nations Human Rights Council. The attempts by Palestinian leadership to subvert the ICC and turn it into its own backyard court for hounding Israelis will, almost certainly, backfire.

Yesterday, speaking on behalf of President Trump at the Federalist Society, National Security Advisor John Bolton proclaimed, “The United States will always stand with our friend and ally, Israel. And, today, reflecting Congressional concerns with Palestinian attempts to prompt an ICC investigation of Israel, the State Department will announce the closure of the Palestine Liberation Organization office here in Washington, DC.”

“The Trump Administration will not keep the office open when the Palestinians refuse to take steps to start direct and meaningful negotiations with Israel. The United States supports a direct and robust peace process, and we will not allow the ICC, or any other organization, to constrain Israel’s right to self-defense,” Bolton added.

In November of 2017, Bensouda said she would seek permission to launch a formal investigation into the situation in Afghanistan following a series of annual reports making clear that the investigation would cover not just the Taliban and Afghan security forces, but also U.S. military and intelligence officers.

Under federal statute, cooperation with the ICC in prosecuting U.S. personnel is prohibited.  On the policy level, the current and past administrations have strenuously objected to foreign courts or international tribunals exercising jurisdiction over U.S. personnel, citing concerns about unfair treatment. 

No U.S. administration has supported becoming party to the ICC Rome Statute and the Bush Administration was so concerned that the court would try to assert power over U.S. personnel that it went to extraordinary lengths to guard against that possibility.  It sought immunity agreements from member States using foreign assistance as leverage.  It blocked U.N. peacekeeping resolutions at the Security Council because they did not include ICC immunity clauses. It even worked with Congress to enact a law–still on the books–authorizing the United States to use military force to rescue U.S. persons from The Hague should one ever be detained by the court.

Three successive US administrations of both political parties have rejected the full jurisdiction of the international court over American citizens, although U.S. cooperation with the court expanded significantly under the Obama administration.

Bolton threatened to sanction and prosecute ICC judges if the tribunal attempts to charge US service members and intelligence agents with war crimes saying, “Today, on the eve of September 11th, I want to deliver a clear and unambiguous message on behalf of the President of the United States. The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court.”

“We will not cooperate with the ICC. We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not join the ICC.”

“We will let the ICC die on its own. After all, for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us.”

UPDATE:  Welcome readers of Bad Blue Uncensored News.  We are honored that Doug Ross has linked to this post.