'Shocking': Dutch Lawmaker Describes Probing Israel's Treatment Of International Criminal Court

THE HAGUE, Netherlands ― The government of the Netherlands calls hosting the International Criminal Court “a huge responsibility” rooted in its national constitution. Along with 92 other nations, Holland on Friday endorsed a statement calling the court “an essential component of the international peace and security architecture” that should be free from “intimidation” or “political interference and pressure.”

But Dutch authorities have also reportedly known since 2015 about Israeli harassment of court officials and sources trying to inform the ICC’s work. And Israeli espionage targeting the organization is allegedly ongoing.

What has the Netherlands done about it?

That’s what Kati Piri, a prominent member of the country’s House of Representatives, wants to know. On May 29, she sent a formal inquiry to the Dutch government about alleged Israeli meddling with the ICC since 2015, when the court began investigating apparent violations of international law in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict once Palestine joined the ICC as a member state.

According to May 28 reports from The Guardian , the Israeli-Palestinian magazine +972 and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call , Israel is surveilling dozens of officials at the court, as well as other international officials and Palestinian rights activists, and has repeatedly threatened former ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda. Israeli officials allegedly subjected Bensouda to shock encounters ― including a seeming attempt at bribery at her home in The Hague and an “ambush” by Mossad director Yossi Cohen in New York ― and suggested they would harm her family, including by damaging her husband’s career.

Taken together, the alleged gambits constitute what a former high-ranking Israeli