Complainants request examination of allegations Israel tried to derail international criminal court inquiry.
Prosecutors in the Netherlands are considering a request to open a criminal case against senior Israeli intelligence officials for allegedly interfering with an investigation by the international criminal court ICC.
The request was filed last week by a group of 20 complainants, most of whom are Palestinian, asking the Dutch prosecution service to examine allegations Israel tried to derail the ICC’s inquiry into alleged crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.
According to lawyers for the group, the criminal complaint was filed in response to an investigation by the Guardian revealing how Israeli intelligence attempted over a nine-year period to undermine, influence and allegedly intimidate the ICC chief prosecutor’s office.
The joint investigation with the Israeli-Palestinian publication 972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call prompted the Dutch government to raise concerns earlier this year with Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands.
As the host state of the ICC, which is in The Hague, the Netherlands is obliged under an agreement with the court to protect the safety and security of ICC staff, and must ensure it is “free from interference of any kind”.
The criminal complaint called on the Dutch authorities to honour its obligations to the ICC “as a matter of urgency”, according to extracts of the filing seen by the Guardian.
Lawyers for the complainants argued in the submission that “Israel’s many attempts to influence, sabotage and stop the investigation constitute a direct violation of their clients’ right to justice.”
They said Israel’s espionage against the ICC may have included breaches of Dutch criminal law as well as offences against the administration of justice under article 70 of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC.
The ICC’s Palestine investigation dates back to 2015 when the court’s former chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, opened a preliminary inquiry into the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, a move that led Israel to launch its covert campaign against the court.
In the wake of the Guardian investigation into the Israeli espionage, the Dutch government has faced calls from Dutch MPs to open an independent inquiry and do more to protect the court.