Jerusalem, 1 January 2001
Israel agrees to sign the International Criminal Court Treaty (ICC)
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
A Ministerial Committee, headed by the Prime Minister, appointed today by the Government to decide in the matter of Israel signing the International Criminal Court Treaty (ICC), decided this evening to authorize the Israeli Ambassador at the United Nations to announce Israel's signing of the above-mentioned treaty.
The decision taken was a change in the position taken till now, following clear legal clarifications that the signing would not harm the interests of Israel, inter alia by the attaching of various and clear reservations raised by the Government of Israel regarding the treaty, and specifically the issue of the settlements. In addition, it followed various contacts held throughout the day and especially this evening, at senior levels with the U.S. Administration, aimed at safeguarding the interests of Israel as mentioned above.
So far 130 nations have signed the treaty, and today was the last deadline for signing the treaty. It is clarified that the signing is a declarative act, and it has no legal bearing until the ratification of the treaty.
Israel is proud that it was one of the initiators of the treaty, following the Holocaust and the lessons of the Nurenburg trials, and it hopes that with the original spirit of the treaty, the flaws will be corrected, so as to bring about a fair and equitable implementation of the treaty.