Netanyahu lauds Trump's ICC announcement, says int'l court 'politicized, obsessed with Israel'

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday welcomed the decision by US President Donald Trump to sanction any International Criminal Court officials who investigate US troops, amid reports that Washington coordinated the move with Jerusalem in advance...

Israel has been a long-time critic of The Hague, accusing its officials of being prejudice and even driven by anti-Semitism, and has castigated it for becoming a 'political tool' in the hands of the Jewish state's enemies.

Israel is not signatory to the Rome Statute from which the ICC draws its power, raising the question of whether The Hague has jurisdiction to bring a case against Israel. The Palestinian Authority joined it in 2015 with the explicit aim of trying to take ICC action against Israeli officials for alleged war crimes including the 2014 Gaza war, the settlement enterprise, and the 2018-2019 Gaza border conflicts.

The US, which is also not a signatory to The Hague charter, has warned that a war crimes investigation against Israel 'will have consequences' for the ICC.

Commenting on Trump's decision, Netanyahu said that ICC 'is politicized and obsessed with carrying out a headhunt against Israel and the United States as well as other democratic countries that respect human rights, but turns a blind eye to the world's worst human rights offenders, including the terrorist regime in Iran.'..."