The International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, recognized the Palestinian Authority as a member of the ICC Rome Statute, which dictates the locations that stand under the court’s jurisdiction. It recognized the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza as falling into the category and approved an investigation into alleged Israel ”war crimes.”

“Israel completely rejects the distorted and antisemitic decision taken by the International Criminal Court,” said Israel ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan.

The United States opposes the International Criminal Court’s attempts to affirm territorial jurisdiction over the Palestinian situation, stated the U.S. State Department after the ICC issued on Friday a decision claiming jurisdiction in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza and approving an investigation into Israel, citing ‘’war crimes.’’

The court, based in The Hague, recognized the Palestinian Authority as a member of the ICC Rome Statute, which dictates the locations that stand under the court’s jurisdiction. It recognized the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza as falling into the category.

According to the court, it may apply the Rome Statute to alleged war crimes committed by Israel.

The Rome Statute is the treaty established by the ICC which dictates its functions, jurisdiction and structure.

The permission for the criminal investigation was given to the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda who had conducted a preliminary investigation into the alleged war crimes. It states that the investigation can look into actions taken in Judea and Samaria, Gaza and east Jerusalem.

In its statement, the State Department said: ‘’As we made clear when the Palestinians purported to join the Rome Statute in 2015, we do not believe the Palestinians qualify as a sovereign state, and therefore are not qualified to obtain membership as a state, or participate as a state in international organizations, entities, or conferences, including the ICC.’’

‘’We have serious concerns about the ICC’s attempts to exercise its jurisdiction over Israeli personnel.  The United States has always taken the position that the court’s jurisdiction should be reserved for countries that consent to it, or that are referred by the UN Security Council,” it added.

In Friday’s ICC ruling, Marc Perrin de Brichambaut of France and Reine Adélaïde Sophie Alapini-Gansou of Benin represented the majority opinion of the pre-trial chamber  while Peter Kovacs of Hungary opposed the decision.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the ICC ruling.’’The ICC proved again that it is a political body and not a judicial institution,’’ he said.

‘’The ICC ignores the real war crimes and instead pursues the State of Israel, a state with a strong democratic government that sanctifies the rule of law, and is not a member of ICC.’’

“Israel completely rejects the distorted and antisemitic decision taken by the International Criminal Court,” said Israel ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan. “It is no accident that both Israel and the United States have refrained from becoming members of this biased and political institution. We are a democratic country with an independent judiciary. The ICC has no jurisdiction whatsoever in this matter.”

Erdan called the decision an attack not only against Israel but all democracies and said it would undermine the country’s ability to defend civilians against terrorism.

“The court was established to investigate the world’s gravest war crimes, but instead it meddles in political disputes, rewarding Palestinian terrorists and pushing the Palestinians further away from the momentum of peace now taking place in our region,” Erdan concluded.

Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi claimed that the ICC has no right to conduct the investigation, saying that the decision turns the court into a “political tool in the hands of anti-Israel propaganda.”