Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz excoriated the International Criminal Court Tuesday, blasting the court for probing Israel’s 2014 war against the Gaza-based Hamas terror group, while turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in Iran.
In a tweet Tuesday, Katz called the Iranian Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a “war criminal”, citing the reported 1,500 deaths of anti-government protesters in the ongoing demonstrations in the Islamic republic.
"Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei is a war criminal. He ordered the murder of 1,500 civilian protestors & the ICC doesn’t even open an investigation,” Katz tweeted.
“They hold Israel to a double standard - we are defending ourselves against terrorists. No one can deny us our right to self-defense."
Katz tweeted after a senior adviser to Khamenei warned Monday that Iran would retaliate against Israel for recent strikes on Iranian forces in Syria attributed to the Jewish state.
"We expect the resistance in Syria and Lebanon to stop the crimes of the United States and Israel. Israel is helpless and cannot execute its threats against Iran,” the adviser said.
“If Israel attacks Lebanon - Hezbollah will flatten Israel,” he threatened.
The comments follow an attack on Syria on Sunday night which was attributed to Israel. The Syrian army said the country’s anti-aircraft defense fired toward Israeli missiles and shot down one that fell outside Damascus.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were three explosions in the Damascus suburbs after the missiles targeted "Syrian regime and Iranian positions."
The Britain-based Observatory also said the Israeli attack killed at least three fighters aligned with the Assad regime.
Israel has not commented on the reports that it is responsible for the latest attack.
Last Friday, the International Criminal Court in The Hague announced that it would probe Arab allegations of Israeli war crimes dating back to the 2014 war with Gaza, as well as claims the existence of Jewish towns in Judea and Samaria constitute war crimes.
Israel and the US lambasted the decision to open the investigations, while the Palestinian Authority lauded the court’s decision.
