Alan Dershowitz: Israel War Crimes Probe Is 'End of the ICC'

Legal expert Alan Dershowitz tells Newsmax TV that the investigation into alleged war crimes by Israel "marks the death" of the International Criminal Court.

"There are three reasons why" this move will ultimately lead to the end of the ICC, Dershowitz, former Harvard Law School professor, tells J.D. Hayworth and Miranda Khan on "America's Forum" on Monday.

"Number one, Palestine's not a state, it doesn't have boundaries. How can you tell what's occupied and what's not when there's no agreed upon boundaries?" he asked. 
"Number two, Israel passes the test of complementarity," he said. "Complementarity means the ICC has no jurisdiction to investigate any country that has a legitimate legal system, and if Israel's legal system is not legitimate, neither is America's."

In addition, "the United States will never, ever join a court that says that Israel's legal system doesn't pass the test of a legitimate legal system," he contends.  

"And number three, Israel is the most moral army. No country in the history of the world facing threats comparable to Israel has ever responded with more compliance with the rule of law, more concern for the life of civilians, and more warnings to civilians," said Dershowitz, author of "Terror Tunnels: The Case for Israel's Just War Against Hamas."

"To pick Israel to be the first essentially western nation to investigate, it'll do more harm to the ICC than it will to Israel," he added. 

Both the United States and Israel have condemned the ICC for the probe into war crimes charged against Israel by Palestine, which became a member of the ICC in early January.

The United States has called the allegations against Israel a "tragic irony" and "counterproductive to the cause of peace."

Israel has said the ICC is investigating Palestine's claims in an attempt to "try to harm Israel's right to defend itself from terror." 

On Sunday, Israel killed six members of the Hezbollah terrorist group on the Syrian border as well as an Iranian general. 

Dershowitz tells Newsmax that "Israel did the right thing" in killing the Hezbollah fighters and ought to be praised, not condemned, for the attack.

"Israel has a legitimate right to kill terrorists who were trying to engage in terrorist attacks against Israel," he said. 

"Imagine how much better it would have been if France had killed the terrorists before they killed the 17 people, or if Belgium manages to kill the terrorists who are throwing the whole country into turmoil?" he asked. 

"These are terrorists who are planning terrorist acts on the northern border of Israel," he said. 

"Israel did the right thing."
 
However, the legal expert does not believe that the attack will lead to another war, unless one is started by Iran.