Rashida Tlaib Says U.S. Shouldn't Interfere With Israeli-Palestinian War Crimes Probe

After the U.S. State Department rebuked a decision by the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor to formally investigate war crimes committed in the Palestinian Territories, a Democratic Representative has said America should not interfere with the probe.

Outgoing ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda made the announcement to open the investigation on Wednesday. "The decision to open an investigation followed a painstaking preliminary examination undertaken by my office that lasted close to five years," she said.

"My office will take the same principled, non-partisan, approach that it has adopted in all situations over which its jurisdiction is seized."

The court, based in The Hague, the Netherlands, has been monitoring the Israel-Palestinian conflict since June 13, 2014. The ICC opened investigation a day after Palestinian terrorists kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers in the West Bank.

The Palestinians joined the ICC in 2015 and have long-pushed for an investigation of Israel, which is not a member of the court. On February 5, 2021, the ICC approved the prosecutor's request to open legal proceedings against Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas on suspicion of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the West Bank. Israel blames Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups for killing Israelis by launching rockets from residential areas, while Palestinians say Israeli military often covers up abuses and is biased against Palestinians.

Rashida Tlaib, who represents the 13th district of Michigan, said on Wednesday said the U.S. should not interfere with the investigation.

"No one is above the law," said Tlaib (D-MI) on Twitter. "The @IntlCrimCourt has the authority and duty to independently & impartially investigate and deliver justice to victims of human rights violations and war crimes in Palestine and Israel. The U.S. should not interfere with its ability to do so."

However, officials elsewhere in the U.S. and in Israel say Israel has been unfairly singled out and politics has influenced the investigation.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: "The United States firmly opposes an @IntlCrimCourt investigation into the Palestinian Situation. We will continue to uphold our strong commitment to Israel and its security, including by opposing actions that seek to target Israel unfairly."

Earlier that day, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said in his daily press briefing that the Biden administration opposed the opening of the probe.

"We firmly oppose and are disappointed by the ICC prosecutor's announcement of an investigation into the Palestinian situation," Price said during his daily press briefing.

"We will continue to uphold our strong commitment to Israel and to its security, including by opposing actions that seek to target Israel unfairly," he added, stressing that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over the matter as Israel is not party to the Rome Statute."

The Palestinian Authority welcomed the ICC probe, calling it "a long-awaited step that serves Palestine's tireless pursuit of justice and accountability, which are indispensable pillars of the peace the Palestinian people seek and deserve."

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the investigation an "attack" on Israel and said it was "the epitome of anti-Semitism and hypocrisy."

On February 25, two leading pro-Israel senators circulated a letter to their colleagues calling on Blinken to take a stronger stance against the war probe.

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) said Blinken should have issued "a more forceful condemnation of the Court's actions". The senators said that while they support the ICC's state goal of ensuring accountability to grave war crimes, they believed that the court had " inappropriately infused politics into the judicial process."

Bensouda made the decision in her final months in office, so it is unclear whether she has co-ordinated the move with her successor, U.K.-born barrister Karim Khan.