🚨🚨🚨Karim Khan is NOT sleeping!🚨🚨🚨

Today, Karim Khan submitted a 49-page response to the various drama statements and excuses submitted to the ICC by assorted governments trying to shield the occupation from its responsibilities under international law.

I’ll try to recap the most relevant “F U Israel” Khan wrote. But, there are SO may that I might inadvertently have missed some. Apologies for that! Let’s start.

History of the proceedings:

1 January 2015: Palestine accepts the ICC’s jurisdiction for crimes allegedly committed “in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, since June 13, 2014”

2 January 2015: Palestine accedes to the Rome Statute by depositing its instrument of accession with the UN Secretary-General

1 April 2015: the Statute enters into force in Palestine, while Palestine develops an active role in the work of the Assembly of States Parties (“ASP”), contributes to the Court’s budget, and participates in the adoption of resolutions by the ASP.

16 January 2015: the Prosecutor opens a Preliminary Examination into the Situation in the State of Palestine.

22 May 2018: Palestine refers this situation to the Prosecutor requesting “the Prosecutor to investigate, in accordance with the temporal jurisdiction of the Court, past, ongoing and future crimes within the court’s jurisdiction, committed in all parts of the territory of the State of Palestine”.

22 January 2020: the Prosecution requests the Pre-Trial Chamber I to rule on the scope of the Court’s territorial jurisdiction

28 January 2020: the Chamber expressly invites Israel to provide observations on the question identified by the Prosecution

20 February 2020: the Chamber allows numerous legal representatives of victims, States Parties, intergovernmental orgs, and amici curiae to provide observations. The Chamber received submissions from some 11 groups of one or more victims, 31 States Parties, and 34 academics or NGOs.

30 April 2020: the Prosecution files a consolidated response

5 February 2021: the Chamber issues its Article 19(3) Decision, confirming Palestine is a State Party and a State for the purposes of article 12(2)(a) of the Statute, that the territorial scope of the ICC’s jurisdiction in this situation extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967 and that the Oslo Accords do not bar the initiation of the Prosecution’s investigation.

3 March 2021: the Prosecutor announces the opening of the investigation in the Situation in the State of Palestine with respect to crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court that are alleged to have been committed in the Situation since 13 June 2014.

17 November 2023: South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti refer the Situation to the Prosecutor.

18 January 2024: Chile and México also refer the Situation to the Prosecutor.

20 May 2024: the Prosecutor publicly announces his intention to apply under article 58 for the arrest of five persons in the Situation in the State of Palestine

10 June 2024: the United Kingdom requests leave to provide observations on “[w]hether the Court can exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, in circumstances where Palestine cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals pursuant to the Oslo Accords”.

27 June 2024: the Chamber grants the United Kingdom’s request to file observations and invites any further requests under rule 103 to be submitted by 12 July 2024.

22 July 2024: after receiving over 70 applications from individuals, organisations, and States, the Chamber grants leave to most applicants to provide observations by 6 August 2024

9 August 2024: the Chamber allows the Office of Public Counsel for the Defence (“OPCD”) to file observations by 16 August 2024. It also authorises the Prosecution to file a consolidated response of no more than 53 pages by 26 August 2024.


Khan immediately sets the tone:

Israel has occupied Palestine since 1967. As the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) held in its Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024, Israel’s continued presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (“oPt”) is unlawful.

The territory occupied includes Gaza, over which Israel exercises a range of forms of control. It has done so both before and after its unilateral disengagement in 2005, and before and after its military operations in response to the attacks of 7 October 2023. It includes the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where Israel has established, maintained, and expanded settlements in violation of international law.

Israel has also engaged in policies and practices in violation of international law that have resulted in the annexation of large parts of the oPt, that entail systematic discrimination, and that impede the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination.

He writes:

As described above and as victims participating in these proceedings have asserted: “the situation clearly did not start on 7 October 2023”, pointing out that the Oslo Accords “should be considered an agreement between an occupying power (Israel) and a local authority (the Palestinian Liberation Organization) regulating aspects of the occupation.

He submits that:

The Chamber should dismiss all submissions related to the Oslo Accords, because the matter has already been adjudicated several times (so-called res judicata).

The cases identified by the Prosecution are admissible because Israel is not investigating Netanyahu and Gallant for substantially the same conduct as alleged in the submission

The legal framework of the ICC relies solely on the evidence brought by the Prosecutor (art 58)

The public announcement of the Prosecutor of his intention to apply for arrest warrants was legitimate because it’s a public proceeding, and it has been done in at least 4 other cases.

The UK misinterpreted the reasoning in the Article 19(3) Decision on the Oslo Accords.

My favourite bits:

Certain interveners argue that the Oslo Accords bar the exercise of the Court’s jurisdiction over international crimes committed on the territory of the State of Palestine by Israeli nationals. This argument is without merit. First, it is inconsistent with the Statute when interpreted in accordance with ordinary modes of treaty interpretation under international law and the Court’s consistent jurisprudence, and wrongly seeks to treat the State of Palestine differently from every other State Party. Second, the argument that the Oslo Accords bar jurisdiction is premised on a misunderstanding of foundational concepts of jurisdiction under international law, including under the law of occupation, as well as their implications for the Court’s exercise of jurisdiction under the Statute.

When a State becomes a party to the Statute, it accepts the jurisdiction of the Court. The Court is endowed with jurisdiction in relation to crimes committed on the State’s territory or by its nationals.

As made explicit in article 47 of GCIV, and as recently applied by the ICJ in its Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024, such an agreement [the Oslo Accords] shall not “in any case or in any manner whatsoever” deprive protected persons of the benefits of the Convention or “be understood to detract from Israel’s obligations under the pertinent rules of international law.

The juicy legal bits:

The American Sociological Association has decided to divest from the occupation.

[RT]

Joint Statement: 50 Days of a Labour Government and arms sales to Israel continue unabated

On Labour's 50th day in office, the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians, Global Legal Action Network, War on Want, and the Campaign Against Arms Trade have written a joint statement condemning the UK government for its inaction on suspending arms sales to Israel.

You can read it on their site:

Tinyurl(DOT)com(FORWARD SLASH)yjhzaw5m

[RT]

⚡️Head of Israeli Occupation Military Intelligence leaves post, apologizes for failure on October: We failed in the most important mission entrusted to us.

[G&T]

Huge rocket barrages on the Galilee Center near the occupied city of Tamra 🔥🔥

[G&T]

⚡️Air defenses have been activated in the vicinity of Haifa, north of occupied Palestine

[G&T]

Rockets appear from Jenin city ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️

[G&T]

⚡️East of occupied Haifa a short while ago..

[G&T]

Hebrew media

A violent explosion occurred in the north, as far as Kiryat

[G&T]

⚡️Israeli media this is the first time during the "war" the alarm sounded in the city of Tamra in Galilee....

[G&T]

Channel 12 :

The terrorists confirm the interception of a suspicious aerial target launched from Lebanon in the skies of Kiryat Ata, east of Haifa.

[J]

Scenes from the launch of the Iron Dome, as it attempts to intercept a target in the sky of the town of Tamra, east of Haifa.

I counted 11 cardboard dome missiles which cost $50,000 each which is a total of $550,000 just for one cheap drone from the resistance. Let's see how long they can sustain this.

[J]

Kamal Sharaf's latest take on Yemen

[RT]

The Zionists destroying civilian homes in Hamad City in Khan Younis, Southern Gaza Strip.

[V]

In preparation for the Zionist army raids,

the PA militias are dismantling IEDs that the resistance had prepared to confront the occupation forces on the road connecting Tubas city and the town of Tayasir, which the occupation uses to storm the city.

[V]