Israel and the United States are coordinating their response to a potential War Crimes charge at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Channel 13 News reported over the weekend.
According to the report, Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and Deputy National Security Adviser Reuven Azar traveled to Washington last week to discuss the issue with senior US officials.
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Steinitz is in charge of coordinating Israel's response to The Hague, whose pre-trial chamber is currently debating whether the ICC has jurisdiction to hear war crimes cases against Israel for actions committed in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip.
Israel and the US are not signatories to the Rome Statute, the treaty upon which the International Criminal Court is predicated. The Palestinian Authority joined it in 2015.
The ICC has to accept briefs on Israel's behalf from Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Uganda, Brazil and Australia on the question of jurisdiction. The briefs are expected to be filed by March 16.
Canada has also told the ICC it opposes war crimes suits against Israel. US President Donald Trump's administration has backed Israel in its battle against The Hague. court.
The ICC announced recently it was looking into potential war crime charges against the US of its troops' actions in Afghanistan.
Jerusalem and Washington have both argued that they have credible judiciaries that can properly investigate and, if need be to prosecute, human rights violations, making the ICC's intervention redundant.
The ICC was set up to prosecute war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. It has jurisdiction only if a member state is unable or unwilling to prosecute atrocities itself.
