Netanyahu calls for sanctions against International Criminal Court

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called for sanctions against the International Criminal Court, calling the ICC’s investigation into Israel’s actions against the Hamas terror organization in 2014 a “full frontal attack” on democracies’ rights to self-defense.

Speaking with Matt Crouch in an interview with The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) which is set to be aired Tuesday, Netanyahu urged Americans to join in the call to sanction the ICC.

“I think that everybody should rise up against this. The US government, under President Trump, has spoken forcefully against the ICC for this travesty. I urge all your viewers to do the same, to ask for concrete actions, sanctions, against the International Court – its officials, its prosecutors, everyone.”

“They are basically in a full frontal attack on democracies: both on democracies’ right to defend themselves, and on Israel’s right – the Jewish people’s right – to live in their ancestral homeland, the Land of Israel.”

Last month, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, announced that the court would probe allegations of Israeli “war crimes” in Judea, Samaria, and Gaza, including Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014 against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

In addition, the court will investigate claims Israeli communities in Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem constitute war crimes.

Netanyahu also discussed the threat posed to Israel by Iran’s nuclear program and Tehran’s threats to destroy the Jewish state.

“A third of the Jewish people went up in flames. There was nothing we could do. After the Holocaust, the State of Israel was established. Attempts to destroy the Jewish people have not disappeared. Iran openly declares every day that it wants to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth.”

“We now have the capacity to defend ourselves. I think the lesson of Auschwitz is one: stop bad things when they are small. Iran is a very bad thing. It is not that small, but it could get a lot bigger with nuclear weapons, and I think the first thing is to stop that.”

“And second, understand that the Jews will never, ever again be defenseless in the face of people who want to destroy them. These are the two things that I think are important.”