Economy Minister Naftali Bennett threatens to take the Palestinian Authority to the International Criminal Court in The Hague on charges of war crimes.
Following the collapse of the US-brokered peace talks and the subsequent unilateral move on Wednesday by the Palestinian Authority seeking recognition for a state at the UN, Economy Minister Naftali Bennett warned that Israel could charge the PA with war crimes.
“We are currently preparing an indictment for war crimes against [PA President Mahmoud Abbas] based on two rationales,” Bennett told Israel Army radio. “The first is the daily cash transfers to Hamas, which is firing missiles on Israeli citizens, and the second is the direct financing of murderous terrorists themselves.”
This would indeed turn the tables on the PA as well as on anti-Israel “human rights” groups that have sought to charge the Jewish State with war crimes.
PA Prisoners Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqe warned last week that the applications for recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN was “only the beginning” and that they will also seek to delegitimize Israel.
“A lawsuit against us in the Hague will have Israel join the ranks of other distinguished countries brought to court there, such as the US and UK, and no one is telling London to withdraw from their land over it,” Bennett said.
In a column penned by Bennett published Sunday in Israel Hayom, Bennett pointed out that “lawsuits against the IDF could also end up setting off the international community. What happens next, the Taliban files a lawsuit against U.S. troops? North Korea decides to drag the U.S. the The Hague over its occupation of South Korea?”
“Israel and other countries should bring the PA to the Hague over war crimes,” Bennett declared.
“If you want to go to the U.N., then go ahead and call us first so we can buy your plane ticket,” he asserted. “The mistakes you’ve packed for this trip are your own, for sure.
Abbas directly ‘responsible for Hamas’ war crimes’ against civilians
In a manifesto published on Sunday, he explained that the PA shares responsibility for the ongoing deadly rockets fired at Israeli civilians from Gaza, Israel National News reported.
“The PA leadership in Ramallah will tell them that it is Hamas who shoots at civilians, not them,” Bennett said. “But this is like saying that it is Hatnua [“The Movement,” chief negotiator Tzipi Livni’s party] that is conducting negotiations with the PA, and not the State of Israel.”
“Hamas is a political movement operating under the PA umbrella in Gaza,” the economy minister explained. “Abbas transfers funds each month from the PA to Gaza for ‘public servants’ there. He believes that Gaza is part of the same ‘Palestine’ that he asks the UN to unilaterally establish. Therefore, he is responsible for Hamas’ war crimes.”
Furthermore, “each month the PA issues stipends to murderers of women and children that Israel released as well as to those still in prison. This is encouraging terror. This is incitement.”
“Threats of the PA going to the UN are groundless,” Bennett continued. “But the fear of it in itself has allowed the PA to continue blackmailing us at a heavy price,” demonstrating that it is up to Israel’s leadership to change course.
“It’s time to stop the cycle of blackmail,” he affirmed. “The only nation to be damaged from the PA’s application to the UN will be the PA itself,” which could be charged with war crimes.
Author: Atara Beck, Staff Writer, United with Israel
Date: Apr. 13, 2014