The statement - under a photo of prosecutor Fatou Bensouda with a sign saying "Dedication Integrity Respect" - took great pains to say the investigation would be impartial and look at both sides equally:
Any investigation undertaken by the Office will be conducted independently, impartially and objectively, without fear or favour. The Rome Statute obliges the Office, in order to establish the truth, to extend its investigation to cover all facts and evidence relevant to an assessment of whether there is individual criminal responsibility under the Statute and, in doing so, to investigate incriminating and exonerating circumstances equally....Investigations take time and they must be grounded objectively in facts and law. In discharging its responsibilities, my Office will take the same principled, non-partisan, approach that it has adopted in all situations over which its jurisdiction is seized. We have no agenda other than to meet our statutory duties under the Rome Statute with professional integrity.
We have already shown how the statement itself shows that this investigation is anything but unbiased, because it specifically and deliberately excludes the one horrific event of a kidnapping and murder of teens that began the events of 2014.
But there is another way to show that this investigation is going to be a circus with a foregone conclusion to only go after Israel.
Hamas and other terror groups, which by any reasonable criteria are guilty of multiple war crimes in 2014 are welcoming the investigation!
Here's how Hamas newspaper Felesteen reports the story:
The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, welcomed the decision of the General Prosecutor of the Criminal Court, calling on the court to resist any potential pressures that could prevent it from completing its mission.Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem described the decision as "courageous", and that it is an important step to achieve justice and redress for the Palestinian people and to punish the occupation leadership for its crimes. "Our resistance comes within the framework of defending our people, and it is a legitimate resistance guaranteed by all the laws and international laws," Qassem stressed in a press statement received by Felesteen....Leader in the Islamic Jihad Movement, Ahmed Al-Mudallal, called on the International Criminal Court to impose the harshest penalties on the criminal occupation leaders, describing the court's decision to open an investigation into war crimes they committed in the Palestinian territories as a "positive but insufficient step."
Another terror group that has been involved in war crimes, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine also welcomed the decision.
The terrorist groups know very well that the ICC is on their side. They will get a slap on the wrist for "indiscriminate rocket fire" (even though it is aimed at civilians) which they will then brush off as legal, as they always do when there is a pro forma "even handed" mention of their war crimes by any NGO. Other war crimes witnessed by journalists will be ignored.
No wonder Hamas welcomes the investigation.