Israel will tell the International Criminal Court it does not recognise the authority of the tribunal, which is planning to investigate possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday.

Netanyahu, after meeting with senior ministers and government officials ahead of a Friday deadline to respond to an ICC notification letter, said Israel would not cooperate with the inquiry, but it will send a response.

“It will be made clear that Israel is a country with rule of law that knows how to investigate itself,” he said in a statement. The response will also say Israel “completely rejects” the assertion that it was carrying out any war crimes.

Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC and therefore by definition not a party to the court.

REUTERS