TEL AVIV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th March, 2021) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed the move by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to probe war crimes in Palestinian territories as "undiluted antisemitism" and vowed to fight until this "injustice" is reversed.
After nearly five years of preparations, the ICC announced on Wednesday that it has opened investigations into potential war crimes committed by the Israeli defense forces, Hamas and Palestinian armed groups in Palestinian territories.
"The decision of the International Court to open an investigation against Israel today for war crimes is absurd. It's undiluted antisemitism and the height of hypocrisy. Without any jurisdiction, it decided that our brave soldiers, who take every precaution to avoid civilian casualties against the worst terrorists in the world who deliberately target civilians, it's our soldiers who are war criminals," Netanyahu said, as quoted by his office on Twitter.
According to the prime minister, the court, which was established to prevent the repetition of Nazi crimes, including those committed against the Jews, is "now turning its guns against the one and only state of the Jewish people."
"It's targeting Israel, the only democracy in the middle East. But of course it turns a blind eye to Iran, Syria and the other dictatorships that are committing real war crimes left and right," he argued.
Israel, he went on, will keep fighting "this injustice" and communicate the truth "in every forum, in every country, on every stage until this outrageous decision is reversed and becomes null and void."
