The long arm of the law may yet grab Abbas

JPOST

Shurat Hadin Law Center filed Monday a war crimes complaint with the International Criminal Court Prosecutor against Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

The NGO is using a similar creative procedural move that it used to file similar complaints against Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on September 3, in that it has said both Mashaal and Abbas are Jordanian citizens.

Jordan, unlike Israel or “Palestine” which is still not a state in the eyes of the ICC, has accepted ICC jurisdiction over its citizens since April 11, 2002, avoiding the bar which has blocked most ideas until now for bringing the ICC into the conflict.

The basis of the allegations is reports of Fatah-affiliated armed groups firing significant numbers of rockets on Israel from Gaza during this summer’s Gaza war along with Hamas, who fired most of the rockets.

The NGO argues that Abbas is vicariously liable for the Fatah armed groups’ actions as its leader, though it recognizes that publicly Abbas opposed the rocket fire.

Due to Abbas’ public position and other procedural hurdles, the complaint could be an uphill battle, but even if Shurat Hadin does not win on this one, it is ready to go after Abbas for terror attacks during the Second Intafada if he ever decides to have Palestine formally join the ICC’s Rome Statute.

In that case, it would also allegedly have a wealth of evidence that Abbas approved financial payments to terrorists and their families for undertaking terror attacks as well as naming places or institutions for terrorists.

The complaint against Mashaal, ironically, and likely for tactical reasons, was not directed at Hamas rocket attacks on Israel, but at alleged war crimes Hamas perpetrated against the Gazan population.

The complaint alleges that on August 22, 2014, Hamas “executed 18 so-called ‘collaborators’ who had been convicted of no crime,” including “publicly execut[ing] seven of these ‘collaborators.’”

Moreover, the complaint said that on July 28, 2014, Hamas summarily executed 20 Gazan civilians for engaging in anti-war protests against its rule in the Strip.

The NGO’s head, Nitzana Darshan-Leitner, said “Shurat HaDin will not allow Fatah to carry out rocket attacks on Israeli population centers, while hypocritically advocating Palestinian membership in the ICC.  Abbas falsely believes that alleged crimes against Arabs are the only ones that should be prosecuted.“

Previously, the law office of Mordechai Tzivin has asked the ICC to indict Abbas, but the request was rejected on the grounds that “Palestine” has not joined the ICC.