Sharon's threat to War Crimes Tribunal Sympat
Mehrene Larudee, Jewish Peace News - 03.11.2002 04:02
[A newly drafted bill before the Israeli Knesset (parliament) would criminalize and punish with up to ten years imprisonment the provision by any Israeli citizen of assistance to the International War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague.
Subject: [JPN] Assistance to War Crimes Tribunal to be punishable
[A newly drafted bill before the Israeli Knesset (parliament) would
criminalize and punish with up to ten years imprisonment the
provision by any Israeli citizen of assistance to the International
War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague. The bill was introduced into
committee deliberations (or "tabled," in the parlance used below,
prior to being voted on by the full parliament) by senior Likud
Member of Knesset Ze'ev Boim, and is certainly aimed at the Israeli
peace group Gush Shalom. Gush Shalom ("Peace Bloc") members have
made no secret of their efforts to gather information about illegal
Israeli military actions that the Hague Tribunal might use in
prosecuting alleged war crimes. If the newly introduced bill does
pass, some suggest that it might find broader application in
criminalizing any activity of Israeli human rights groups that
attempt to document actions deemed illegal under international law.
As Uri Avnery, award-winning peace activist and founding member of
Gush Shalom points out in the following press release, "After the
Holocaust, the Jewish people fought with all its strength for the
creation of an International War Crimes Court, and now the Sharon
Government tries to destroy it. This is tantamount to an admission
that they have something to hide." --LS]
GUSH SHALOM - pob 3322, Tel-Aviv 61033 -  http://www.gush-shalom.org/
Press Release, 29/10/2002
A further threat to Gush Shalom
And to what democracy there is...
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Assistance to International War Crimes Tribunal to be punishable
Israeli Government Coalition Chair proposes new bill.
Gush Shalom activists would face 10 years in prison
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While the Sharon government struggles for survival, another effort to
hit Israeli democracy and in particular Gush Shalom:
A bill tabled today at the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) would criminalize
any assistance rendered by an Israeli citizen to the International War
Crimes Tribunal at the Hague. It was presented by MK Zeev Boim, a senior
member of the ruling Likud party and chair of the government coalition.
Under the bill, any assistance by an Israeli citizen to the Hague Court
would be punishable by up to ten years' imprisonment. The bill includes a
detailed list of proscribed acts, all liable to such a punishment: "The
provision of any information such as writings, photographs, documents,
opinions and reports" as well as "The collection, keeping and preparation
and transfer of information" and "The holding of investigations and the
writing down of their results". Additionally, any association engaged in
any such activities would be liable to be disbanded.
Evidently, the proposed law is primarily directed against Gush Shalom, the
Israeli Peace Bloc, which recently cautioned 15 senior IDF officers that
certain actions may lead to their indictment in the International Court.
At the time, Prime Minister Sharon has demanded that Gush activists be
indicted. The Attorney General, Elyakim Rubinstein, started an
investigation but - after a wave of international protests, among them
leading Jewish voices - the AG found that the Gush Shalom action did not
violate any existing law. Thereupon the Minister of Justice, Meíir
Sheetrit, threatened to initiate a new law. The Boim Bill is evidently
designed to fulfil this promise.
Once enacted, however, the new law could find a much wider application. In
fact, any act of by human rights organization collecting and disseminating
testimonies of human rights violations might be eventually construed as
violation of the new law, on the pretext that the reports might find their
way to the Hague Court and used by it as evidence. The same may hold for
the Settlement Watch reports periodically issued which contain information
about a clear violation of international law, and which are widely
disseminated throughout the world.
"This bill betrays the memory of six million Holocaust victims," declared
former Knesset Member and Gush Shalom activist Uri Avnery. "After the
Holocaust, the Jewish people fought with all its strength for the creation
of an International War Crimes Court, and now the Sharon Government tries
to destroy it. This is tantamount to an admission that they have something
to hide." "Even the USA, which wants to exclude its soldiers from the
jurisdiction of the Hague Court, has not dared to enact such a despicable
law," commented Adam Keller, the Gush Shalom spokesperson. "It would turn
Israel into an international outcast - a country which first signed the
Rome Treaty, and would now forbid its own citizens on pain of dire
punishment from helping the same court. It would place the best of
Israel's citizens, the sensitive and conscientious persons who care about
human rights and international law, in an impossible dilemma: either be an
accomplice to war crimes or face prosecution and imprisonment". Keller
called upon the Labor Party, now at last starting to make its way out of
the Sharon Government, to struggle against its enactment.
Under Knesset procedures, a private member's bill needs 45 days between
being tabled and being presented to a vote, which gives some time for
organizing an protest campaign. Sometimes during these 45 days, the Boim
Bill should come up on the agenda of the Cabinet Legislative Committee,
which should decide whether or not the government would back it.
For more information:
Adam Keller +972-3-5565804 / +972-56-709603
N.B.
Protests should be addressed to
Justice Minister Sheetrit
and/or to the fax number: + 972 (0)2 6285438;
and to
The Foreign Minister
and/or to the fax number (+972-2) 5303506 / 5303896 / 5303367
(As things look now, within a few days the Foreign Affairs portfolio might
be held by somebody else than Mr. Shimon Peres; but whoever the minister,
Foreign Ministry officials can be expected to be concerned for Israel's
image in the world and therefore vulnerable to protests from abroad.)
You can use the following text, or of course make your own.
Dear Minister
I am deeply concerned about the bill presented at the Knesset by KM Ze'ev
Boim, which would make for Israeli citizens the collection of evidence of
war crimes punishable as "assistance to the International War Crimes
Tribunal at the Hague", nd which could lead to up to ten years of
imprisonment.
The enactment of such a law would violate both democratic norms inside
Israel and Israel's adherence to the international community and the
institutions established by the community to maintain International Law. I
call upon you to take all measures in your power to prevent such a bill
from being enacted and becoming a shameful blot on Israel's law books.
---
Transcript of the war crimes panel available on the Gush site
For Hebrew http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/forum.html
For English http://www.gush-shalom.org/archives/forum_eng.html
French available at request
At request, a selection of documents is also available in Spanish
Also on the site:
photo's - of action or otherwise informative
the weekly Gush Shalom ad - in Hebrew and English
the columns of Uri Avnery - in Hebrew, Arab and English
(and a lot more)
http://www.gush-shalom.org
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