The International Criminal Court ruled Friday that it had jurisdiction over the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, paving the way for the tribunal to open a war crimes investigation.
ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda had asked the court for its legal opinion on whether its reach extended to areas occupied by Israel, after announcing in December 2019 that she wanted to start a full probe.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the ICC as a "political body" while the United States said it had "serious concerns" over the decision.
The Palestinians called it a "victory for law".
The ICC said in a statement that judges had "decided by majority that the court's territorial jurisdiction in the situation in Palestine, a state party to the ICC Rome Statute, extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem."
Palestine is a state party to the court set up in the Netherlands in 2002 to try the world's worst crimes, but Israel is not.
The court added that its decision was not a ruling on Palestinian "statehood", but that as a state party to the court, it should be treated in line with a UN General Assembly statement of the "right of the Palestinian people to self-determination".
"The chamber is neither adjudicating a border dispute under international law nor prejudging the question of any future borders" but made the decision for the "sole purpose of defining the court's territorial jurisdiction", it said.
The administration of former US president Donald Trump slapped sanctions on the prosecutor and another senior court official in September.
The US, which is not a member of the court, enacted the measures after earlier visa bans on Ms Bensouda and others failed to head off the court's war crimes probe into US military personnel in Afghanistan.
But the US has also cited the court's treatment of its ally, Israel.
Mr Netanyahu slammed Friday's decision.
"The tribunal has, once again, proved that it is a political body and not a judicial institution," Mr Netanyahu said in a statement, and added that the decision undermined the "right of democracies to defend themselves against terrorism".
Palestinian civil affairs minister Hussein Al Sheikh said on Twitter that the ruling was a "victory for law, justice, liberty and moral values in the world."
The US State Department said Israel should not be bound by the court as it is not a member.
In a statement, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said the Biden administration is reviewing the decision. “We’re aware of it, and reviewing it,” Mr Price said.
But the US official also echoed concerns. “We share the goals of the ICC to create accountability for the worst crimes against humanity, but we have serious concerns about the ICC's attempts to exercise its jurisdiction over Israeli personnel.”
The spokesman also added the US traditional stance that “the court's jurisdiction should be reserved for countries that consent to or that are referred to by the UN Security Council.”
Human Rights Watch however said the ruling was "pivotal", adding that it was "high time that Israeli and Palestinian perpetrators of the gravest abuses" should face justice.
"The ICC's decision finally offers victims of serious crimes some real hope for justice after a half century of impunity," Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at organisation, said in a statement.
Ms Bensouda called for the full investigation following a five-year preliminary probe that began with the 2014 war in Gaza.
At the time, she said she could open a probe on her own authority but wanted to ask the court about the territory it covers due to the "unique and highly contested legal and factual issues attaching to this situation."
Ms Bensouda, who steps down in June, has urged the Biden administration to lift US sanctions.
In a separate case, the court in September dismissed an appeal against a decision not to begin probe into Israel's involvement in a deadly raid on an aid flotilla to Gaza in 2010.
Ibrahim's play list
Completed an electrical diploma at the Adnoc Technical Institute
Works as a public relations officer with Adnoc
Apart from the piano, he plays the accordion, oud and guitar
His favourite composer is Johann Sebastian Bach
Also enjoys listening to Mozart
Likes all genres of music including Arabic music and jazz
Enjoys rock groups Scorpions and Metallica
Other musicians he likes are Syrian-American pianist Malek Jandali and Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou Khalil
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Cofe
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 80-100
Amount raised: $13m
Investors: KISP ventures, Cedar Mundi, Towell Holding International, Takamul Capital, Dividend Gate Capital, Nizar AlNusif Sons Holding, Arab Investment Company and Al Imtiaz Investment Group
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Five films to watch
Castle in the Sky (1986)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Only Yesterday (1991)
Pom Poki (1994)
The Tale of Princess Kaguya (2013)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh359,900 ($98,000)
On sale: Now
Know your cyber adversaries
Cryptojacking: Compromises a device or network to mine cryptocurrencies without an organisation's knowledge.
Distributed denial-of-service: Floods systems, servers or networks with information, effectively blocking them.
Man-in-the-middle attack: Intercepts two-way communication to obtain information, spy on participants or alter the outcome.
Malware: Installs itself in a network when a user clicks on a compromised link or email attachment.
Phishing: Aims to secure personal information, such as passwords and credit card numbers.
Ransomware: Encrypts user data, denying access and demands a payment to decrypt it.
Spyware: Collects information without the user's knowledge, which is then passed on to bad actors.
Trojans: Create a backdoor into systems, which becomes a point of entry for an attack.
Viruses: Infect applications in a system and replicate themselves as they go, just like their biological counterparts.
Worms: Send copies of themselves to other users or contacts. They don't attack the system, but they overload it.
Zero-day exploit: Exploits a vulnerability in software before a fix is found.
The%20Roundup
%3Cp%3EDirector%3A%20Lee%20Sang-yong%3Cbr%3EStars%3A%20Ma%20Dong-seok%2C%20Sukku%20Son%2C%20Choi%20Gwi-hwa%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Paatal Lok season two
Directors: Avinash Arun, Prosit Roy
Stars: Jaideep Ahlawat, Ishwak Singh, Lc Sekhose, Merenla Imsong
Rating: 4.5/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
