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Palestinian Prime Minister Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh said that the Palestinian appeal to the International Criminal Court (ICC) shatters the Israeli "monopoly on pain" and Israeli claims that the Jews are the only ones who were "tormented by the Nazis and so on." He made these remarks during a show that aired on Palestine TV (Palestinian Authority) on March 1, 2021. Dr. Shtayyeh said that the Palestinian appeal to the ICC "demonstrates and proves" that the Palestinian people suffer and that their prisoners have been tortured and killed. He added that if Israel is in fact indicted in the ICC, American companies and organizations could be taken to court as well for helping Israel in its actions against Palestinians. Dr. Shtayyeh said that the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State had told Abbas that Palestinian membership in the ICC would be tantamount to obtaining a nuclear bomb.
Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh: "Israel was basically purporting that the Jews in the world are the only ones who were tormented by the Nazis and so on. Our appeal to the ICC demonstrates and proves that the Palestinian people suffer, their prisoners have been tortured and killed, Palestinians have been martyred and displaced. The Palestinians live in the diaspora, and all the painful reality of the Palestinians... So we shattered the monopoly on pain that Israel purported to have.
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"Before we turned [to the ICC], there had been tremendous and unparalleled pressure. I was in New York when a delegation from the State Department came. They left Washington, D.C. at six o'clock in the morning, so that they could meet President [Abbas] in New York. The reason that our membership in the ICC is not only against Israel. If Israel is indicted, all the parties involved in the Israeli actions against the Palestinians will also be indicted. This means that we can also take the American companies and organizations that support Israel to court. Hence, the Deputy Secretary of State said to President Abu Mazen [Mahmoud Abbas]: 'If you become members in the ICC, It will be like obtaining nuclear weapons.'"
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