From The Gambia To The Hague: Meet Israel’s New Public Enemy Number One

Israel has many enemies, their newest being Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Since the announcement regarding the opening of an investigation into the “Palestinian situation,” and due to Bensouda’s belief that war crimes have been committed, the 58-year-old native of Gambia has experienced a growing wave of criticism.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly accused her of “pure anti-Semitism,” and has compared her legalistic arguments to the anti-Jewish decrees by the villains of the Hanukkah story.
Bensouda has faced new hostilities from unexpected sources such as some of the Israelis media. However, it is not due to the press’s support of Netanyahu, although it could have more to do with her war crime accusations directed at Israeli soldiers. Because many Israelis have either served in the army or have close family members who served, many feel personally attacked.
Israeli media spent much energy on Bensouda, which included digging into, and exposing her past as a senior official under former Gambian president, Yahya Jammeh.
Yedioth Ahronoth, one of Israel’s leading newspapers, and not a supporter of Netanyahu, published a front-page story headlined “The devil from Gambia and the prosecutor from The Hague,” saying Bensouda served as a legal adviser for one of the most ruthless dictators in the world. The article served as a brief teaser for an upcoming full story to be released by the paper in their weekend magazine, which elaborated further on Bensouda’s service for Jammeh’s regime.