LONDON: A request has been filed in the Netherlands asking for authorities to prosecute senior Israeli intelligence officials over claims they interfered with an International Criminal Court investigation into crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.
A group of 20 complainants have brought the claim following a Guardian report that uncovered a nine-year campaign by Israeli intelligence to “undermine, influence and allegedly intimidate the ICC chief prosecutor’s office.”
The report, conducted with Israeli-Palestinian +972 Magazine and Hebrew language Open Call outlet, led the Dutch government, which hosts the ICC in the Hague, to raise its concerns with the Israeli ambassador to the Netherlands.
The complainants’ legal team claims: “Israel’s many attempts to influence, sabotage and stop the investigation constitute a direct violation of (their clients’) right to justice.”
They added that the Israeli activity may have broken Dutch law as well as contravened the Rome Statute and that a case against senior intelligence officers should be brought. A number of Dutch MPs have also called for an inquiry into the allegations.
A spokesperson for the Dutch prosecution service said: “The complaint has been received … and will be studied.”
A spokesperson for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government of the Netherlands has “continuous and good contact with the ICC.”
They added: “Let one thing be clear: The Netherlands is doing its utmost to allow the ICC to do its work safely, undisturbed and independently.”
The ICC has been investigating allegations of Israeli crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories in 2015. In May this year, its Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan applied for warrants to arrest senior Hamas figures Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The warrants have yet to be approved. Haniyeh was assassinated in Iran in July.
A spokesperson for the ICC prosecutor’s office said: “The office remains deeply concerned by the ongoing attempts to improperly influence its activities through threats and intimidation of its officials.”
The Israeli Embassy in the Netherlands did not respond to a request for comment.
