Israeli president calls on Macron to oppose ‘morally bankrupt’ ICC decision

President Rivlin calls on France to oppose the decision of the International Criminal Court in a Thursday op-ed column in Le Figaro.

By World Israel News Staff

“The decision of the International Criminal Court is morally and legally bankrupt,” President of Israel Reuven Rivlin said in a Le Figaro op-ed ahead of his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday.

Rivlin called on France and other European states to oppose the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to initiate investigations against IDF soldiers.

The president stressed the importance of international law to the State of Israel and the misuse of it by the ICC, emphasizing that Israel will stand by IDF soldiers who protected its people when asked to do so.

In the op-ed he wrote, “The decision by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to investigate Israel for possible war crimes is a dreadful misapplication of international law. A court established to deal with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community is being used a political weapon. It is a morally and legally bankrupt decision.”

“Since the prophets declared ‘Zion will be redeemed with justice’ (Isaiah 1:27), international law and justice have been at the heart of the Jewish People’s vision. Jews were active in the creation of a framework of international law. Jews and Israelis, motivated by the horrors of the Second World War, were at the forefront of the establishment of today’s international legal bodies, including the International Criminal Court itself.

“We are deeply committed to the theory and the practice of ensuring that war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity are never allowed to go unpunished because domestic legal systems are unwilling or unable to prosecute individuals responsible for them.

“But this is not the case with Israel. We have established beyond any doubt that we are both able and willing to investigate ourselves when allegations of this kind are brought.

“For us, these are not just dry, abstract questions of law. The soldiers and civilians that ICC is threatening to investigate are our children and grandchildren, our neighbors and friends. We will do everything we can to protect them, just as they protected us when asked to do so. At the same time, we will hold ourselves to the highest standards of international law, even when that requires the most painful decisions.

“If we want international law to continue to play its full role in ensuring peace and justice, we must protect it in the face of two challenges. The first is the attempt to politicize international law, as we are seeing with the ICC.

“We have seen the damage that has been caused to other international bodies, such as the UN’s Human Rights Council, by those who seek only to harness them for political gain. Those who sacrifice human rights for political gain will do the same to international law. We must be vigilant and united in stopping them.”

Emmanuel MacronICCInternational Criminal CourtReuven Rivlin