Dutch launch probe into Mossad’s 9-yr, dirty tricks campaign against ICC

Alameen Templeton
Dutch prosecutors are considering a request to investigate criminal charges against senior Israeli intelligence officials for interfering with the international criminal court’s (ICC) investigations against the genocidal state, The Guardian in London reports Monday.
The Netherlands hosts the ICC in The Hague and is obliged under an agreement with the court to protect the safety and security of its staff and protect it “from interference of any kind”.
Twenty complainants, most of whom are Palestinian, filed a request last week asking the Dutch prosecution service to examine revelations Israel tried to derail the ICC’s inquiry into war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.
9-year intimidation campaign
The Dutch prosecution service said the complaint “has been received … and will be studied”.
Lawyers for the group say the criminal complaint is a response to a Guardian investigation that revealed Israeli intelligence attempted over a nine-year period to undermine, influence and intimidate the ICC chief prosecutor’s office.
The investigation prompted the Dutch government to “raise concerns” earlier this year with Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands.
The complainants call on the Dutch authorities to honour its obligations to the ICC “as a matter of urgency”, the Guardian says.
Their submission argues “Israel’s many attempts to influence, sabotage and stop the investigation constitute a direct violation of their [clients’] right to justice.”
Israel’s espionage against the ICC may have included breaches of Dutch criminal law as well as offences under the Rome Statute treaty that established the ICC, the complainants say.
Cohen’s dirty hand
The lawyers urged prosecutors to focus on senior members of the Israeli security apparatus for their involvement in potentially criminal acts in the Netherlands.
This is probably aimed at Mossad director Yossi Cohen who, The Guardian reported in May was “personally involved in a secret plot to pressure (ICC Chief Prosecutor) Fatou Bensouda to drop her Palestine investigations”, according to its sources.
Israel’s embassy in the Netherlands did not comment. Israel’s prime minister’s office has said the Guardian’s report included “unfounded allegations meant to hurt the state of Israel”.
ICC opened its Palestine investigation in 2015 when Bensouda launched a preliminary inquiry into Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, prompting Israel to launch its covert campaign against the court, The Guardian says.
In May, the current prosecutor, Karim Khan, filed applications for arrest warrants against senior Hamas figures and Israeli officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza after October 7.
Judges still mum
That was four months ago, but the ICC judges have still not replied to requests filed by Khan against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and Hamas’s leader, Yahya Sinwar.
In the wake of the Guardian revelations, the Dutch government has faced calls from Dutch MPs to open an independent inquiry and do more to protect the court.
The Dutch foreign affairs ministry did not comment on the criminal complaint, but said the government has “continuous and good contact with the ICC” and security concerns were being discussed.
“Let one thing be clear: the Netherlands is doing its utmost to allow the ICC to do its work safely, undisturbed and independently,” it told the Gaurdian.
A spokesperson for the ICC prosecutor’s office said Khan had made clear in May that attempts to “impede, intimidate or improperly influence” ICC officials may constitute offences under the Rome Statute.
“The office remains deeply concerned by the ongoing attempts to improperly influence its activities through threats and intimidation of its officials,” it said.