Israeli sources working discretely with the ICC PRosecutor to consult on adherence to international law and bring his team to Israel to see the robustness of Israel's legal system were taken aback by his decision to file for warrants against Israel's leaders before even visiting, according to Globes.
Per the report, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan's team was supposed to make an official visit to Israel to see how Israel's judicial system, including its military judicial system, ensures adherence to the law, thus obviating the need for outside intervention. Instead, the Prosecutor decided to move forward and try and charge Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant with war crimes.
In response to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan's decision to file for warrants against Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant, 106 Knesset Members signed a petition condemning the decision outright.
80 years after the Holocaust, no-one will tie the hands of the state of the Jews from defending itself.
Signed,
Members of the Labor and Arab parties refused to sign, with Labor officially calling it a "tool" and a "campaign" meant to personally strengthen Netanyahu rather than protect the country.
The petition reads:
The State of Israel is in the midst of a just war against a criminal terrorist organization.
The IDF is the most moral army in the world.
Our soldiers are fighting incomparably bravely and morally, in accordance with international law, as no other army in the world has done.
The outrageous comparison of the prosecutor in the Hague between the leaders of Israel and the heads of the Hamas terrorist organization is a historic and unforgivable crime and a clear expression of antisemitism.
The placing of the State of Israel, a democracy espousing human rights and fighting for its life, in the same ranks as a murderous terror organization which kidnapped, slaughtered, burned and raped its citizens and acts against its existence - is a distortion without equal.
We reject it with disgust.