Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu used the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Sunday to promote new markets in the Far East to reduce dependence on what he called the “wave of Islamization, anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism” sweeping Europe.

Decades of European condemnation of Israel, from allowing Jews to live in Judea and Samaria to Europe’s parallel financial prop for a failed Palestinian Authority, reached the boiling point with the announcement by the International Criminal Court that will begin to examine if there are grounds to investigate Israel for war crimes in the counter-terror war against Hamas last summer.

Netanyahu said that the visit of Abe and a huge delegation of 200 officials and businessmen from Japan will boost Israel’s economy while the Europe is being overrun by a wave of hate.

Netanyahu added:

 These waves are washing over it and we would like to ensure that the State of Israel will have varied markets around the world. We would also like to decrease cartelization.

He noted “that the Japanese economy is the third largest in the world and there is a common desire, which found expression in my visit to Japan several months ago, to tighten relations, increase trade and increase investments between Israel and Japan. This fits in with my clear vision to vary our markets. This found expression in my trip to China one and a half years ago and in my meeting at the recent UN General Assembly with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as in the current visit. This is part of Israel’s opening to eastern markets.”

Israel Is not boycotting Europe or ignoring its marketers but is “also advancing the development of Israel in other areas.” In his welcome to Prime Minister Abe later in the day, Netanyahu said, “The future belongs to those who innovate. Japan is a country of innovation; Israel is a country of innovation. Together we can do a lot more and gain a lot more….

I believe that Israel, in turn, must diversify its markets to include Japan and the other great economies of Asia.”

Cyber security is one of the biggest strengths in the Israeli hi-tech industry and is sought by countries all over the world.

Israel has opened a trade office in Osaka in addition to operations in Tokyo.

Abe said, “Bilateral ties between Japan and Israel are now deepening in every field….It is said that hundreds of world leading global firms featuring cutting edge technologies now have their R&D bases in Israel…. We are now positioning ourselves in the major trend of marking a turning point in our economic relations.”

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman has taken the first steps in hitting back at the ICC for its eagerness to try and prosecute Israel for fictitious war crimes.

Liberman said on Israel radio that Israel will ask Israel’s friends in Canada, Australia and Germany to stop funding the ICC. Israel and the US are not members of the ICC.

Japan’s Prime Minister is currently in Israel and Israel will also ask Japan to stop contributing to the ICC.

In the international community there is concern that the Palestinian Authority’s actions may destroy whatever credibility the ICC may have had. They’re right to be worried.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening (Saturday, 17 January 2015) has issued the following statement:

“Israel rejects the absurd decision of the ICC prosecutor.

It’s absurd for the ICC to ignore international law and agreements, under which the Palestinians don’t have a state and can only get one through direct negotiations with Israel.

The rules of the ICC are clear:

No state

No standing

No case.

It’s absurd for the ICC to go after Israel, which upholds the highest standards of international law. Our actions are subject to the constant and careful review of Israel’s world-renowned and utterly independent legal system.

But this decision is even more preposterous given that Israel is legitimately defending itself against Palestinian terrorists who routinely commit multiple war crimes. They deliberately fire thousands of rockets at our civilians, while hiding behind Palestinian civilians whom they use a human shield.

And here’s the ultimate folly of this decision –

It is the democracy of Israel, a world leader in fighting terrorism, which is to be hauled to the dock in The Hague, while the terrorist war criminals of Hamas are the ones who are going to be pressing the charges. I won’t be surprised if ISIS, al-Qaida and Hezbollah follow suit. See, Hamas has already announced that they will join their Palestinian partner, President Abbas, in filing complaints against Israel as a result of this decision.

So we see here something truly tragic.

The lofty goals of the ICC are being turned upside-down.

The court was founded to prevent a repeat of history’s worst crimes, foremost among them the genocide of six million Jews.

Now the Palestinians are cynically manipulating the ICC to deny the Jewish state the right to defend itself against the very war crimes and the very terror that the court was established to prevent.

Thank you.”

The U.S. State Dept. has strongly attacked the International Criminal Court (ICC) for opening a probe of alleged Israeli war comes and left open the question whether the ICC even has the a right to conduct a probe of last year’s war with Hamas.

The State Dept. called the ICC announcement a “tragic irony,” a statement that was further bolstered by praise for the ICC decision by Hamas, which may find itself under the ICC microscope.

Jeff Rathke, director of the State Dept. press office, stated:

We strongly disagree with the ICC Prosecutor’s action today. As we have said repeatedly, we do not believe that Palestine is a state and therefore we do not believe that it is eligible to join the ICC. It is a tragic irony that Israel, which has withstood thousands of terrorist rockets fired at its civilians and its neighborhoods, is now being scrutinized by the ICC.

He told reporters at Friday’s daily press briefing:

We don’t think that the Palestinians have established a state, and we don’t think they’re eligible to join the International Criminal Court. I would highlight that many other countries share this view.

In answer to a question whether the ICC is conducting “an illegitimate preliminary examination,” Rathke responded, ” I’m not going to characterize it.,” and he declined to say one way or the other if the United States will appeal to the ICC to drop the preliminary examination.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke with Sec. of State John Kerry Friday and asked him to intervene against the ICC on behalf of Israel

Hamas was thrilled by the ICC decision and declared on Saturday, “We are ready to provide (the court) with thousands of reports and documents that confirm the Zionist enemy has committed horrible crimes against Gaza and against our people.”

“Tragic irony” is an excellent definition of the ICC decision, which is even more astonishing since it apparently follows a complaint by the Palestinian Authority, which will not be a member of the ICC until April 1.

Technically, the ICC is off the hook of overreaching its authority.

The “Rome Statute” concerning war crimes states that non-members cannot ask for an investigation of war crimes.

The ICC got around this restriction by stating it is “examining” whether an investigation should be conducted, and it obviously cannot make a decision until April 1.

But how can the ICC examine alleged war crimes dating back to last year, when the Palestinian Authority did not even apply for ICC membership.

PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas presented documents to the ICC giving it authority to act retroactively.

The ICC stated it will open its examination on alleged Israeli war crimes in last summers’ war with “full independence and impartiality.”

If so, it will have a hard time ignoring Hamas war crimes, which Israel documented day by day in the war, having learned to do so after the United Nations’ scathing Goldstone Report that barely mentioned Hamas’ war crimes in the three-week Operation Cast Lead counter-terrorist campaign in late December 2008 and early January 2009.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said that the ICC announcement of a preliminary examination as based on an “outrageous request” by the Palestinian Authority.

Abu Mazen is trying to climb down out of the International Criminal Court tree he climbed himself into.

The Lebanese newspaper Al-Achbar, reports that PA President Mahmoud “Abu Mazen” Abbas told the Egyptian president that if Israel restarts negotiations with him within the next few weeks, he won’t sue senior Israeli officials in the Hague.

The Israeli legal organization, Shurat Hadin / Israel Law Center, has already prepared and submitted multiple law suits to the ICC against senior PA officials, in preparation for the PA being accepted to the ICC.

Abbas may have woken up to the fact that he will be the one on the defendant’s chair soon enough.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said that the Palestinian Authority will be joining the International Criminal Court (ICC) on April 1, 2015.

Ki-Moon says he is holding all the application papers.

The PA wants to use the ICC to attack Israel on yet another front.

In response, The Israel Law Center / Shurat HaDin organization has already filed several terrorism charges against the PA/PLO, in anticipation of their becoming a member.

On Friday the Palestinian Liberation Organization filed for membership in the International Criminal Court. Mahmoud Abbas and those he leads filed for membership in the ICC after the Resolution seeking to force Israel to “end the occupation of Palestine within three years”  failed to be voted out with approval from the United Nations Security Council last week.

No one doubts that the only reason the Palestinian Arabs moved to join the ICC was to use it as a chip to threaten Israel with prosecution for alleged war crimes.

Given the many documented acts of wrongdoing on the part of Mahmoud Abbas and other acting leaders of the Palestinian Arabs, however, threatening lawsuits is a game two can play.

Israeli officials have long hinted at bringing claims against members of the Palestinian Arab leadership, should any processes be begun against Israel at the ICC. Israel has several options of fora: either at the ICC, although that is expected only to be brought as a counterclaim if the ‘State of Palestine’ hauls Israel into the dock, or in courts in the United States or elsewhere.

Abbas has repeatedly charged Israel with war crimes for all kinds of things, some of which, like today’s decision by Israel to withhold tax money from the PA for joining the ICC, has nothing to do with a war or war crimes.

Abbas made himself vulnerable to charges of war crimes for actions by Hamas when under his leadership the Palestinian Authority in April entered into a unity government with the terrorist organization Hamas. Instances of Hamas using human shields and locating rocket launchers amongst civilians are the kinds of claims that may be brought against Abbas and others.

The United States strongly condemned the decision by the Palestinian Arabs to join the ICC, and members of congress have already begun threatening to cut off funding for the PA, as a consequence.

It will take about two months for the processing of the ICC membership paperwork delivered on Friday by the Palestinian Arab ambassador to the U.N., Riyad Mansour.