NETANYAHU URGES ICC TO REJECT PALESTINIAN MEMBERSHIP BID

Benyamin netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister. Photo: Telegraph

Tel Aviv, 12 Rabiul Awwal 1436/3 January 2015 (MINA) – Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to decline the Palestinian request to join it and pledged to protect Israeli soldiers from any overseas prosecution.

“We expect the ICC to reject the hypocritical request by the Palestinian Authority, which is not a state but an entity linked to a terrorist organization,” he said in a statement on Thursday, referring to Hamas.

“The state of Israel is a lawful country with a moral army that enforces all international law,” he claimed, Palestine Information Center (PIC) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting..

Netanyahu’s statement came one day after Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas signed a document at a meeting in Ramallah requesting membership of 20 International treaties and organizations, including the ICC.

Abbas signed the documents in response to the UN Security Council’s vote on Wednesday against a Palestinian plea calling for ending the Israeli occupation by late 2017.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat on Thursday handed over the membership applications to the UN coordinator for humanitarian affairs, James Rowley, at Ramallah’s presidential headquarters.

The US administration and the Israeli government had repeatedly warned the Palestinian Authority of serious political implications if it decided to go on with its stated intention to join UN organizations and the ICC.(T/R04/P3)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)