Above photo: Israeli Government Press Office.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the EU commission, has been repeatedly criticized over the months for unconditional support for Israel.
The Geneva International Peace Research Institute (GIPRI) has submitted a request to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the President of the EU Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, for complicity in Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
A communication submitted by GIPRI on 22 May details “through facts and evidence, that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the current president of the European Commission … is complicit in a number of violations of international humanitarian law, amounting to crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC, committed by the Israeli armed forces against Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT), including the Gaza Strip.”
“This communication, endorsed by various human rights groups and prominent academics and experts in international criminal law, calls the [ICC] Prosecutor to initiate investigations on the basis of the information provided against Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen,” the communication adds.
GIPRI notes that Von der Leyen is complicit in violations of articles 6, 7, and 8 of the ICC Rome Statute, including military, economic, diplomatic, and political support to Israel.
It adds that she “had knowledge of participating, by aiding and abetting, in the commission of the relevant crimes” and that she “has been instrumental in securing the provision of means, under the form of military support, to the IDF.”
It also notes Von der Leyen’s “unconditional” political support and “encouragement and moral support” to Israel and its army. “Mrs. von der Leyen cannot escape the simple fact that she knew of such crimes, or at the very least she knew of the plausibility of such crimes, as determined by the ICJ in its Order on provisional measures of 26 January 2024 as regards genocide.”
The president of the EU commission has been repeatedly criticized over the months for showing continued unconditional support for Israel, including by the bloc’s own Foreign Policy Chief, Josep Borrell.
Calls to investigate her role in the Gaza genocide come as the ICC faces the threat of US sanctions for seeking arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
The US “should punish the ICC and put [ICC prosecutor] Karim Khan back in his place,” said Mike Johnson, Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, on 23 May.