Middle East Monitor: A senior legal official at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has warned that “the challenge of the International Criminal Court”, should the Palestinians join, “is potentially a very significant one”. Speaking yesterday at the annual meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, MFA deputy legal advisor Tal Becker described the threat of the ICC as “a specific delegimitisation challenge that concerns us a great deal”.

Following the recognition of Palestine as a non-member observer state in the United Nations, the Palestinians are able to ratify the Rome Statute of the ICC, a step being urged by the likes ofAmnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

The MFA official admitted that while the threat posed by Palestinian membership of the ICC is “hard to measure”, it would be “potentially far-reaching”, and is thus “a danger we are looking at very seriously”. Becker claimed that the “risk of a criminal process” would “fundamentally alter” Israeli-Palestinian relations, and “suck the air” out of the peace process.

More: 

As an “attempt to put Israel in the chair of the accused”, Becker predicted that such a development would be a boost to the “BDS campaign”. The MFA, Justice Ministry and other elements within the government are apparently addressing the issue, given the “experience of how international institutions are used against Israel”.