TOI: Slamming ICC investigation, AG says Israel’s legal system is committed to ‘truth and justice’

By Jeremy Sharon - Photo: Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara speaks during a conference at the University of Haifa, December 15, 2022. (Shir Torem/ Flash90/ File) - Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara lambastes International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan directly, saying his investigation into Israel’s actions lacked jurisdiction, his request for arrest warrants against the prime minister and defense minister was “baseless” and that the Israeli legal system and law enforcement agencies examine any suspicion of illegal action.

“The decision of the prosecutor ignores, among other things, the fact that the Israeli legal system has proved its independence in the past, its impartiality, and its commitment to the values of truth and justice,” Baharav-Miara says at a conference of the Israel Bar Association in Eilat.

“We do not shy away from enforcing the law against any person, even with the heads of the military and the state, if there are well-founded suspicions of violations of the law. We examine and will examine thoroughly suspicions of illegal actions. We don’t need outside help to clarify suspected criminal activity.”

The attorney general also points out that the military is currently conducting criminal investigations regarding possible violations of the law during the war in Gaza.

“The states that established the [ICC] court saw it as a tool for dealing with situations where there is ‘no law and no judge.’ That is not our situation,” she continues.

“The steps taken by the ICC prosecutor of the contravene the basic legal idea on which the court was founded, the principle of complementarity.”

Baharav Miara also says that “any intelligent person who looks directly at reality knows that the challenges of fighting Hamas are unprecedented,” and asserts that the terror organization not only violates international law but also “abuses in a manipulative manner Israel’s commitment to those rules.”

She insists that the IDF is operating in accordance with the laws of war, which she describes as a position “not of weakness but rather strength, the moral strength of the Jewish and democratic state.”

The attorney general also denounces the procedures in the International Court of Justice, saying the allegation by South Africa that Israel was committing genocide was “outrageous” and a “cynical and illegitimate use of the court’s procedures.”

She also describes South Africa’s suit as “baseless” and as “totally distorting the concept of ‘genocide.'”