<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/may/28/spying-hacking-intimidation-israel-war-icc-exposed>
"When the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC) announced
he was seeking arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders, he issued a
cryptic warning: “I insist that all attempts to impede, intimidate or
improperly influence the officials of this court must cease immediately.”
Karim Khan did not provide specific details of attempts to interfere in the
ICC’s work, but he noted a clause in the court’s foundational treaty that made
any such interference a criminal offence. If the conduct continued, he added,
“my office will not hesitate to act”.
The prosecutor did not say who had attempted to intervene in the administration
of justice, or how exactly they had done so.
Now, an investigation by the
Guardian and the Israeli-based magazines
+972
and
Local Call can reveal how Israel has run an almost decade-long secret
“war” against the court. The country deployed its intelligence agencies to
surveil, hack, pressure, smear and allegedly threaten senior ICC staff in an
effort to derail the court’s inquiries.
Israeli intelligence captured the communications of numerous ICC officials,
including Khan and his predecessor as prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, intercepting
phone calls, messages, emails and documents.
The surveillance was ongoing in recent months, providing Israel’s prime
minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, with advance knowledge of the prosecutor’s
intentions. A recent intercepted communication suggested that Khan wanted to
issue arrest warrants against Israelis but was under “tremendous pressure from
the United States”, according to a source familiar with its contents.
Bensouda, who as chief prosecutor opened the ICC’s investigation in 2021,
paving the way for last week’s announcement, was also spied on and allegedly
threatened.
Netanyahu has taken a close interest in the intelligence operations against the
ICC, and was described by one intelligence source as being “obsessed” with
intercepts about the case. Overseen by his national security advisers, the
efforts involved the domestic spy agency, the Shin Bet, as well as the
military’s intelligence directorate, Aman, and cyber-intelligence division,
Unit 8200. Intelligence gleaned from intercepts was, sources said, disseminated
to government ministries of justice, foreign affairs and strategic affairs.
A covert operation against Bensouda, revealed on Tuesday by the
Guardian, was
run personally by Netanyahu’s close ally Yossi Cohen, who was at the time the
director of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad. At one stage, the
spy chief even enlisted the help of the then president of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Joseph Kabila."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
