There are reports from global and Israeli media that the nation of Israel has been involved in covert surveillance of International Criminal Court (ICC) officials and four Palestinian commemorative bodies, with the intention of obstructing and undermining an inquiry into supposed war crimes committed by Israel. Al-Haq, Addameer and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, which are three out of the four implicated organisations, are beneficiaries of the Irish Aid annual grant, as confirmed by an official from the Department of Foreign Affairs. The leader of Al-Haq, Shawan Jabarin, is a Palestinian human rights advocate, and a graduate of the University of Galway; he was given an alumni award by the tertiary institution during his trip to Ireland in May.
According to investigations carried out by The Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call, it has been found that Israel has undertaken close to a decade-long campaign against the ICC. This campaign has involved engaging intelligence bodies to conduct surveillance, hacking, pressuring, slander, and alleged threats towards senior staff members of the ICC in a bid to hinder the court’s inquiries. The surveillance operation specifically targeted former and current chief prosecutors of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda and Karim Khan, overseeing their communication with Palestinian commemorative groups that were collating evidence of alleged war crimes and violations by Israeli troops and settlers in the Palestinian occupied territories.
The Israel Defence Forces and the office of the Prime Minister of Israel have refuted these allegations. It is understood that testimonials presented to the ICC by Al-Haq have connected the allegations of crimes under the Rome statute to high-ranking officials in Israel, inclusive of military leaders, heads of the Israeli intelligence firm, the Shin Bet, as well as former ministers of defence including Benny Gantz, who is a member of the war cabinet in Israel. It is believed that evidence of Israel’s application of torture against Palestinian prisoners and detainees was provided to the ICC by Addameer.
According to one source from Israeli intelligence in contact with investigators, Palestinian NGOs were placed under surveillance as they “operate globally and participate in BDS [Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions], thus placing Israel at legal risk… This is why we’re getting involved in this. It has the potential to harm individuals in Israel – military officers, politicians”.
In a conversation hailing from Ramallah, Mr Jabarin of Al-Haq mentioned that it didn’t catch them off-guard that Israel had been covertly monitoring their activities. “The stance of Israel has always been very clear about its unwillingness to let the ICC initiate any probe against it,” highlighted Mr Jabarin. “They will utilise all means at their disposal to thwart the ICC – from surveillance to intimidation.” Mr Jabarin further added, “The fact that they even spied on Karim Khan’s phone communication is a tad surprising. I assumed they had set boundaries. But evidently, Israel’s actions continually demonstrate that it doesn’t have any thresholds, not even in the sphere of espionage.”
An insider with access to intelligence inputs divulged to the investigative team, “One of the objectives was to identify those within the human rights groups who are instrumental in testimony collection, and the particular individuals – the Palestinian victims – who were persuaded to provide testimony to the ICC.” In response to these revelations, and in a defiant tone, Mr Jabarin stated, “We are unfazed. We are not concealing anything – our work is entirely lawful. The only details we endeavour to keep confidential are the narratives of the victims who have requested us to maintain discretion about their testimonials.”