Another Temptation for the ICC: Israel and Gaza

Typically, I wouldn’t take this kind of thing very seriously.

The Palestinian Authority is pressing the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate accusations of war crimes committed by Israeli commanders during the recent war in Gaza.

But in a clever move, the Palestinian Authority has accepted the jurisdiction of the ICC over its territory, which includes Gaza. This could in theory extend ICC jurisdiction over Israeli nationals who operated inside Gaza during the recent conflict. 

As a legal matter, the difficulty is that it is far from clear that the Palestinan Authority is capable of accepting ICC jurisdiction since it is doubtful that it is a state or that it has sovereignty over Gaza, or both. 

Indeed, the status of Palestine is one of the main subjects of dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, and it doesn’t seem obviously helpful for the ICC to decide this question at this point. 

And intervening will hardly calm fears about the ICC’s aggressive interpretation of its jurisdiction, especially over nationals of states that are not parties to the ICC. It is tempting, but potentially disastrous for the ICC to get involved here. But maybe our readers feel differently? Somehow I’m sure they do.