Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday angrily rejected an International Criminal Court's ruling that potentially allows to probe war crimes that Israel allegedly committed in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, condemning it as "pure anti-Semitism".
On Friday, the ICC ruled that it has jurisdiction over the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, paving the way for the tribunal to open a war crimes investigation. Palestine is a state party to the court, having joined in 2015, but Israel is not a member.
"As prime minister of Israel, I can assure you this: we will fight this perversion of justice with all our might," Netanyahu said in a statement. "This is pure anti-Semitism."
Netanyahu cried foul against any bid by the ICC to investigate "fake war crimes".
"The court, established to prevent atrocities like the Nazi Holocaust against the Jewish people, is now targeting the one state of the Jewish people," he said. "First, it outrageously claims that when Jews live in our homeland, this is a war crime.
"Second, it claims that when democratic Israel defends itself against terrorists who murder our children and rocket our cities, we are committing another war crime," he added.
He said the ICC should be investigating "brutal dictatorships like Iran and Syria who commit horrific atrocities almost daily".
Hamas terror group that rules Gaza earlier in the day issued a statement, praising the ICC ruling. "Any international decision that contributes to the support of the Palestinian people's rights and protects their freedom, is a decision in favor of human rights," Hamas said in a statement.
"The Palestinian people are waiting for the day when the occupation and its leaders will be brought to justice for the crimes they have committed against it. We call for all means to be implemented to stop institutionalized terrorism and Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people."
The U.S. State Department said it has "serious concerns" about the ICC ruling, adding that Israel should not be bound by the court as it was not a member.
Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in the Six-Day War of 1967, and later annexed mostly Arab east Jerusalem. Today they are home to at least five million Palestinians defined by the United Nations as living under "Israeli occupation".