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Netanyahu thanks Pompeo for support in wake of ICC’s ‘absurd’ ruling

Netanyahu argued that the decision contradicts the historical truth and undermines the right of the Jews to settle in their ancestral homeland.

By World Israel News Staff

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday for his support after the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) top prosecutor Fatou Bensouda recommended opening a formal investigation into alleged Israeli “war crimes” against the Palestinians, reports Arutz7.

Pompeo took to Twitter on Friday to blast the court’s decision.

“Today, the ICC prosecutor raised serious questions about the ICC’s jurisdiction to investigate Israel. Israel is not a state party to the ICC. We firmly oppose this unjustified inquiry that unfairly targets Israel. The path to lasting peace is through direct negotiations,” he tweeted.

Netanyahu also thanked Pompeo for his unwavering support during a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

“From the depth of our heart, we thank U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he and President Trump’s administration are struggling against these distortions, this injustice and this mendacity on a daily basis. We will continue to struggle against this always.”

At the meeting, the prime minister pointed out three fundamental flaws in the court’s decision.

Netanyahu argued that Bensouda’s decision completely undermines the court’s founding principles.

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“The ICC was established after the horrors of World War II, mainly the horrors that were inflicted on our people, and it was designed to deal with problems that states would raise regarding war crimes, such as genocide or large-scale deportations. It was designed to do so for states that did not have true judicial systems in law, which are present – of course – in the western world,” he said.

“They took a Palestinian claim, who do not have a state, and accused the only democracy in the Middle East, which operates in accordance with the highest legal standards of the western democracies, which the court has no jurisdiction over. This is the first absurdity,” he said.

Second, Netanyahu argued it contradicts the historical truth and undermines the right of the Jews to settle in their ancestral homeland.

“To turn the fact that Jews are living in their land into a war crime is an absurdity of unimaginable proportions,” he said.

Last, he argued that it is hypocritical to accuse the only democracy in the Middle East of war crimes and not accuse regimes such as Iran, Turkey and Syria.

“We will continue to fight against these three absurdities. We will continue to shatter them. We will struggle for our rights and for our historical truth with all the tools at our disposal,” the prime minister concluded.