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A leading British lawyer has hit out against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s comparison of the International Criminal Court in The Hague to the Nazi courts of the 1930s, while questioning the Prosecutor’s decision to seek a warrant for the Israeli premier’s arrest.
Mr Netanyahu made the comments after ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan issued the request in May, describing Mr Khan as “the leading anti-Semite of modern times”.
Lord Ken Macdonald KC, a former director of public prosecutions in the UK, said Mr Netanyahu’s comments about the court were “recklessly offensive”. He believed they would not have been made had its Prosecutor Karim Khan not been a Muslim.
“I want to make clear how strongly I personally deprecate Prime Minister Netanyahu’s recklessly offensive comparison between the ICC and the Nazi People’s Court of the 1930s, and I equally deprecate his reckless characterisation of Karim Khan,” Lord Macdonald told the Policy Exchange think tank on Wednesday.
“This was an offensive and, in my view, a shameful thing for the Prime Minister to say in the absence of evidence and perhaps wouldn't have been made had Mr Karim not been a Muslim.” .
Mr Khan has faced enormous pressure over his decision to seek the arrest warrants of Mr Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, alongside three Hamas leaders. This month, Mr Khan hit out against “threat and harassment” after a group of British lawyers advocating for Israel filed a complaint about him to the Bar Standards Board, a British regulatory body.
The UK's former Conservative government sought to derail the proceedings by filing an intervention, which the new Labour government then dropped in July. The court is reviewing Mr Khan’s applications, as well as dozens of interventions from member states and NGOs that came in support or against them.
One of the main arguments against issuing arrest warrants for Israeli leaders is based on a founding principle of the ICC, known as complimentarity. According to this, the court should not step in unless a state is “unwilling of unable to genuinely carry out” a prosecution – and critics say that Israel’s “robust” and “independent” courts are capable of investigating the Israeli officials in question.
Lord Macdonald agreed with this criticism, describing Israeli courts and the Supreme Court as “famously independent of the executive".
“As we've seen recently, that independence and its constitutional underpinnings have the most enormous public support in Israel. So to my part, I would be very far from concluding the Israeli state is unwilling to investigate allegations such as these,” he said.
He also questioned Mr Khan’s use of an expert panel to guide his decision making on the case. While it was common for prosecutors to seek advice from other lawyers, Mr Khan had been “handing over the power to make the decisive call to these outside experts”.
“Imagine Karim Khan's position if he hadn't followed their conclusion, trying to justify publicly that he'd sent this work to such an eminent group, but that now that he'd seen their opinion, he didn't agree with it, there would have been absolute uproar,” Lord Macdonald said.
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
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GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Scoreline
Australia 2-1 Thailand
Australia: Juric 69', Leckie 86'
Thailand: Pokklaw 82'
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England v South Africa schedule:
- First Test: At Lord's, England won by 219 runs
- Second Test: July 14-18, Trent Bridge, Nottingham, 2pm
- Third Test: The Oval, London, July 27-31, 2pm
- Fourth Test: Old Trafford, Manchester, August 4-8
'Nightmare Alley'
Director:Guillermo del Toro
Stars:Bradley Cooper, Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara
Rating: 3/5
Naga
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The chef's advice
Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.
“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”
Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.
The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
Iftar programme at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding
Established in 1998, the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding was created with a vision to teach residents about the traditions and customs of the UAE. Its motto is ‘open doors, open minds’. All year-round, visitors can sign up for a traditional Emirati breakfast, lunch or dinner meal, as well as a range of walking tours, including ones to sites such as the Jumeirah Mosque or Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood.
Every year during Ramadan, an iftar programme is rolled out. This allows guests to break their fast with the centre’s presenters, visit a nearby mosque and observe their guides while they pray. These events last for about two hours and are open to the public, or can be booked for a private event.
Until the end of Ramadan, the iftar events take place from 7pm until 9pm, from Saturday to Thursday. Advanced booking is required.
For more details, email openminds@cultures.ae or visit www.cultures.ae
MATCH INFO
Rugby World Cup (all times UAE)
Third-place play-off: New Zealand v Wales, Friday, 1pm
Final: England v South Africa, Saturday, 1pm
pakistan Test squad
Azhar Ali (capt), Shan Masood, Abid Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Mohammad Abbas, Yasir Shah, Usman Shinwari
