185 Israeli citizens, including 10 Israel Prize recipients, to the Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague

To :

The Chief Prosecutor, The International Criminal Court,

The Hague, Netherlands

Your Excellency,

We, individuals involved for many years in the field of human rights in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, are writing to the ICC following your request to the Israeli government to clarify whether it intends to investigate complaints of war crimes allegedly committed in the Occupied Territories, including Gaza and east Jerusalem, in general and since 2015 in particular.

We understand that such a request is required in accordance with your procedures in such instances, and we do respect your method of operation.

We wish to assert at this early stage our deep suspicion, based on past experience, that the State of Israel, including its investigative and legal institutions, has no intention to seriously investigate complaints of war crimes. Our suspicion is backed by a very large number of documented cases ostensibly involving war crimes committed by Israel in the Occupied Territories in gross violation of international law. Most of these cases have not been investigated at all, and a few have been concluded with acquittal following a superficial and inadequate investigation.

In our assessment, the many acts of discrimination, severe restrictions upon freedom of movement, appropriation of Palestinian lands for the purpose of Israeli settlement, arbitrary collective punishments (such as curfews and blockades), unwarranted arrests (including long-term administrative detention and illegal incarceration in prisons outside the occupied territories), repeated invasion of private homes and villages, large-scale demolition of houses and other vital structures, prevention of access to basic needs such as water and electricity, denial of residency permits, denial of access to privately-owned Palestinian fields and grazing grounds, and the abject failure of the military courts to provide even a semblance of justice – all these and more are eminently worthy of investigation by your Court. Such acts are the routine, daily reality of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, as we can attest from our own extensive experience there over many years. It is difficult not to see in this list an underlying systemic goal of dispossessing and expelling large numbers of innocent Palestinians from their homes and of barring access to their legally owned lands. As is well known, there are two separate legal systems in place in Israel and the Palestinian territories— the former based on the laws of the state and enshrining basic human rights, the latter, in the occupied territories under military rule, often entailing the denial of such rights.

We must emphasize that addressing the ICC is not an easy choice for us. We are law-abiding citizens who love this land. Precisely from this standpoint, we believe that the actions of the State of Israel and its authorities in the Occupied Territories cause not only unjust and outrageous harm to the local Palestinian population but also irreparable damage to the State of Israel itself. The occupation corrupts every corner of Israel and is driving it into a moral abyss.

Sadly, despite Israel’s image as a state that maintains a proper and professional legal system, the reality paints a different picture – harsh, discriminatory, and outrageous. The law imposed on the Occupied Territories and the manner in which it is applied by the Israeli enforcement and security agencies effectively allow ongoing acts of moral injustice and prima facie war crimes.

Many of us are in contact with the human-rights organizations and activists working in Israel and Palestine, whose ample documentation can contribute to the work of the ICC.

Signed :

Prof. Michal Aviad

Dr. Hanna Aviram

Yael Agmon

Prof. Joseph Agassi

Dr. Dana Olmert

Jonathan Ofir

Claire Oren

Dror Etkes

Prof. Benjamin Isaac

Prof. Eva Illouz

Amos Ityel

Amira Ityel

Prof. Zohar Eitan

Udi Aloni

Rami Elhanan

Dafna Alexandrovitch

Prof. David Enoch

Ora Ardon

Meira Asher

Prof. Jerome Bourdon

Prof. Tali Bitan

Prof. Yoram Bilu

Rachel Beitarie

Idan Bchor

Amitai Ben-Abba

Sadi Ben-Shitrit

Michal Ben-Gera

Daphne Banai

Ronit Back

Hagit Back

Hanna Barag

Dr. Tamar Berger

Prof. Yigal Bronner

B. Michael

Daphna Baram

Ruth Barkai

Prof. Amiram Goldblum

Tamar Goldschmidt

Neta Golan

Ada Gorni

Natalie Ginzburg

Natanya Ginsburg

Dr. Snait Gissis

Maya Gal Eshet

Bat-El Galor

Liora Glatt Traube

Prof. Charles W. Greenbaum

Prof. Raphael Greenberg

Marcia Greenman Lebeau

Niva Grunzwieg

Prof. Ran Greenstein

Dr. Zeev Degani

Ronit Dahan-Ramati

Dani Danieli

Orit Dekel

Aliza Dror

Barak Heymann

Guy Hirschfeld

Prof. Ruth Hacohen

Lahav Halevy

Mattan Helman

Dr. Jeff Halper

Shoshana Halper

Hanna Heller

Roni Hammermann

Dr. Ilana Hammerman

Prof. Don Handelman

Yoav Haas

Prof. Alon Harel

Yehudith Harel

Tal Haran

Rivka Vitenberg

Dr. Uri Weiss

Einat Weizman

Hanna Zohar

Dr. Nava Sonnenschein

Prof. Galit Hasan-Rokem

Rachel Chayut

Anat Tueg

Avital Toch Bar-Haim

Eran Torbiner

Hadas Tal

Dori Tal

Sivan Tal

Yaron Yehoshafat

Smadar Yaaron

Menahem Yaari

Raia Yaron

Dr. Yanai Israeli

Dugi Israeli

Ram Cohen

Hanna Kahana

Tzruya Lahav

Prof. Ram Loevy

Karin Lindner

Prof. Idan Landau

Dr. Mili Mass

Avichai Magal

Jonathan Mizrachy

Dr. Anat Matar

Elia Michaeli

Dr. Ishai Menuchin

Ivonne Mansbach-Kleinfeld

Prof. Jacob (Kobi) Metzer

Prof. Avishai Margalit

Racheli Merhav

Prof. Jad Neeman

Shirli Nadav

Ohad Naharin

Kobi Niv

Ofer Neiman

Nina Sebba

MD Ronit Sevilia Zangvil

Maya Savir

Dr. Aliza Savir

Anouk Savir-Kadmon

Irit Segoli

Prof. Guy Stroumsa

Prof. Sarah Stroumsa

Dr. Yoav Silbert

Tamar Selby

Revital Sella

Amitai Sandy

Dr. Kobi Snitz

Dr. David Senesh

Dr. Michal Sapir

Iftach Spector

Hannah Safran

Prof. Amotz Agnon

Prof. Avraham Oz

Dr. Meir Amor

Uriela Inbar

Shoshi Anbar

Orna Akad

Fathiya Akfa

Zohar Atai

Nurit Popper

Sylvia Piterman

Micky Fisher

Prof. Nurit Peled Elhanan

Tamar Fleishman

Prof. Emmanuel Farjoun

Sigal Primor

Ronny Perlman

Rachel Perets

Nola Chilton

Shaul Tcherikover

Goni Tsur

Avner Tsur

Varda zur

Ronit Chitayat Kashi

Shimri Zameret

Noam Kadmon

Michal Kaiser-Livne

Annelien Kisch

Tali Klagesbrun

Prof. Menachem Klein

Adam Keller

Aya Kaniuk

Luciana Kaploun

Professor Yosef Kaplan

Nurit Karshon

Prof. Ishai Rosen-Zvi

Prof. Freddie Rokem

Micha Rachman

Haran Rivlin

Dr. Nura Resh

Jonathan Sugarman

Dr. Ygal Shochat

Dr. Daphna Shochat Bagon

Prof. David Dean Shulman

Prof. Dmitry Shumsky

Yael Shomroni

Shelly Steinberg

Shlomit Steinitz

Tamar Shita

Miriam Shlesinger

Dr. Moshe Shalit

Tami Shellef

Vardit Shalfy

Mati Shmuelof

Ziyona Snir

Yonatan Shapira

Dr. Tzvia Shapira

Riki Shaked-Trainin

Dr. Dan Tamir