Former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague said that Israel intimidated and pressured her while she was working and living in the Dutch city. She reported the incident to the Dutch government and authorities, but they did little to nothing, the Gambian former ICC prosecutor told Al Jazeera in an interview.
It started shortly after she started investigating Israel’s actions in Palestine in 2015. Two men showed up at her home in The Hague and gave her an envelope with $500 inside, saying it was from someone she had helped. She reported the incident to the ICC and the Dutch authorities.
“The assessment that was made was that it was to show me that they know where I live, that was the purpose,” Bensouda told Al Jazeera. She said the police concluded that the car the men were using had been rented from the airport earlier in the day and that their telephone numbers were Israeli. “I do not think the Dutch authorities did more.”
She said the incident left her feeling not intimidated, but definitely insecure. “I, of course, expected more support,” Bensouda said. “When it came to support from the Dutch government, I’m not aware of anything extra that was done to support me at the time.”
There’s a lot of prestige for the Netherlands in having the ICC in Hague, this story is definitely detrimental to that.
Yep. No point having it in a state unable to safeguard it.
You’d expect a full enquiry into the government’s alleged failure to perform the most basic of responsibilities. If they’re not fit for the job, it goes somewhere else where incapability isn’t an issue.
Amateur hour shouldn’t be a thing here.
Anybody surprised by EU member state inactivity here? She is lucky that authorities didn’t start a criminal investigation against her I’d say. Being anti-semite and such…
Bullshit, there is a lot of reluctance towards Israel in EU, and many countries are actively taking political actions against Israel now.
You are confusing EU with UK where this actually happened.No no, the ruling parties in Dutch politics are still very much pro-Israel.
Anybody surprised by EU member state inactivity here?
Netherlands is not representative of all of EU. But still it’s not correct to call it very pro Israel.
This is the Official policies of the Dutch government on issues of Israel/Gaza:
This link includes humanitarian aid to Gaza, and includes aid to Free Press Unlimited, which Israel is 100% very much against.
It also shows that Netherlands is clearly against the settlers:There is a concerning increase in violence by Israeli settlers and others in the West Bank as well.
The policy is also to support a 2 state solution, which Israel will not allow:
The government’s point of departure remains a two-state solution,
Netherlands has even labeled Israel a national security threat!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TxzNTWjS-fk
https://thecradle.co/articles-id/32197So please stop the bullshit about European countries being one-sidedly pro Israel.
The Netherlands is the largest investor in Israel worldwide. https://www.pulse-z.eu/the-european-country-that-invests-the-most-in-israel-may-come-as-a-surprise/
The Netherlands is also continuing to buy Israeli weapons and even ramping up those purchases. The Netherlands is a very strong supporter of Israel. Besides some platitudes such as boycotting Eurovision they have not actually taken any material action against Israel excluding some very small sanctions against individual Zionist colonists.
The rest of Europe is very similar. All they offer is lip-service to Palestinians while continuing doing business as usual with Israel. Compare this to their actions Russia which got massive sanctions directly after their invasion of Ukraine and the difference is very stark.
I absolutely agree we should do more in Europe to stop Israel.
And yes we have been very one sided in how we have favored them. But this is changing, all this is absolutely questioned now in Europe, some places more than others.
And when people are claiming EU is one sidedly on the Israeli side, that is no longer true.Europe should do more but they really are not. Their only real action after 2 and a half years of genocide is sanctioning a bunch of Israeli colonists in the West Bank. But no sanctions against Israel as a whole.
Israel cannot do what they do without European support. Here is Germany arresting a couple at gunpoint for trying to stop Europe sending weapons to Israel https://lemmy.world/post/47488982
Another key factor is the European logistics which allow American weapons transports to Israel. Once again Germany is the largest offender here but others are also complicit.
Europe is also integrating Israeli weapons as their main choice instead of European alternatives. Israeli Spike missiles and PULS launchers are chosen as the new weapons standard by many European countries recently. Germany is also working to convert car factories to Iron Dome missile production and is trying to push that as the European standard.
But no sanctions against Israel as a whole.
That’s not true, there are definitely sanctions on weapons exports to Israel by several countries in EU.
Here is Germany arresting a couple at gunpoint for trying to stop Europe sending weapons to Israel
I agree, and yes Germany is probably by far the most backwards country in EU in this regard. Pretty ironic since it was their concentration camps that were responsible for the creation of Israel, and now they support Israel doing the same thing against the Palestinians they did during WW2 to the Jews. Germany in particular really need to get their act together here.
Europe is also integrating Israeli weapons as their main choice instead of European alternatives.
We have been, but I don’t think that’s much of a thing anymore. But yes we have also bought Israeli weapons to help Ukraine.
But Israel is NOT part of for instance the EU SAFE program, which for instance Canada and Japan are both members of.
I 100% agree that if Israeli weapons are still planned as part of EU defense, that absolutely needs to be stopped.
Israel is a terrorist state as I’ve mentioned before, and I agree that any cooperation with Israel is too much.
We are not here yet, but I think we are getting there.
Are they now? What political actions are those? “We are concerned” sort of? The only actions AFAIK worth mentioning are joining the SA legal case against genocide and some countries are not exporting/buying weapons to Israel. Besides that we (EU) are happily having Israel as our greatest friend, notably Germany even actively enabling them. Even worse, just elected far right populist prime minister in Slovenia is really drooling when it comes to Netanyahu and Israel in general.
Stop being an idiot!!
These are official EU policies with regard to Israel:
The Council today adopted additional restrictive measures against four entities and three individuals under the European Union’s Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime. Those listed are extremist Israeli settlers and organisations
EU is criminalizing the settlers and essentially labeling them as terrorists.
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-position-situation-middle-east/
protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure and full respect of international law by all parties
EU basically telling Israel and USA that the war against Iran is illegal.
Arms embargo against Israel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_embargoes_on_Israel_since_2023
Since 7 October 2023, several countries such as Italy, Japan, Spain, Canada, Colombia, the Netherlands and Belgium have ceased the sale of weapons to Israel.
That is Italy, Spain, Netherlands and Belgium have all stopped selling weapons to Israel.
More countries are also taking similar actions.
Denmark has even stopped selling F35 parts to USA, because USA is reselling them to Israel.I cannot write hare all the actions that have been taken against Israel by EU countries, but there are numerous actions taken, that show a clear cooling in the relation between European countries and Israel.
Oh. We are cooling the relations, that will teach them, am I right? After 2WW we had Nürmberg for stuff
thanthat Israel is doing today. Now we cool relations a bit, on surface that is.I don’t think you understand what cooling of relations amongst countries mean.
There are 3 basic levels, ally, neutral, enemy.
The cooling means Israel is going from ally/neutral to neutral/enemy.IDK why I deserve such sarcasm for describing the reality of the political relations between EU and Israel?
Also Benjamin Netanyahu is actually wanted as a war criminal by the ICC that resides in EU!
Could you please shut up with your sarcasm on things that are not as you claim they are?!
We all agree here that Israel is a terrorist state, and EU shouldn’t support them. You just fail to acknowledge that EU support for Israel is actually diminishing. And claim that EU is as guilty as Israel as if we were the ones to actually pull the trigger.The hate against EU here is bordering on insanity!!!
IDK why I deserve such sarcasm for describing the reality of the political relations between EU and Israel?
Because you are disrespectful and because you think EU actions result in anything meaningful.
Also Benjamin Netanyahu is actually wanted as a war criminal by the ICC that resides in EU!
That’s on paper. Meanwhile he visited Hungary plus France and Germany said they wouldn’t arrest him.
You just fail to acknowledge that EU support for Israel is actually diminishing.
Dude, there is an active genocide going on from a terrorist state armed with nukes and you are talking about meaningless actions. It’s like fireman pissing on a huge forest fire to extinguish it. When asked how it is going, they’d say “no problem, soon another couple of guys will join me”.
And claim that EU is as guilty as Israel as if we were the ones to actually pull the trigger.
Who is claiming that? EU is guilty of not taking any meaningful steps whereas some member states are guilty of enabling Israel.
The EU needs to revoke citizenship for anyone holding an Israeli passport as well.
There are many actions EU could take, starting with sanctions, expulsion of Israel from sport events, trade, any other cooperation, calling ambassadors each day, join SA legal case against genocide, raise question about nukes and nukes non-proliferation etc.
I mean the Dutch ate famously colaborators (some exceptions do apply like LGBT and Jewish communities)
I recall them famously capitulating to and joining the Nazis without putting up much of a fight.