The Israeli parliament has prepared a bill that would prevent the International Criminal Court (ICC) from carrying out investigations in Israel and bans Israelis from cooperating with it without an official approval.
The bill includes a series of steps to prevent investigations against Israel, including five-year prison sentences to be imposed on violators.
Other steps include preventing any civilian groups, including NGOs, from handing any type of information over to the ICC.
The bill was inspired by the American Service-Members' Protection Act, which was passed in 2002.
ASPA authorizes the President of the United States to use "all means necessary and appropriate to bring about the release of any US or allied personnel being detained or imprisoned by, on behalf of, or at the request of the International Criminal Court".
This authorization has led the act to be nicknamed the "Hague Invasion Act".
Shurat HaDin said that the bill aims to establish a legal safety network for the Israeli soldiers and senior officials who might be brought to court abroad.
Israel is concerned that The Hague would open investigations into possible war crimes on the Palestinian territories.
In the beginning of Feb., the ICC gave the green light to ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to open an investigation in this regard.
In this context, Israel plans to impose sanctions on Palestinian officials for triggering this development.
The ICC ruling came five years after the office of Bensouda began a preliminary investigation of Israeli and Palestinian armed factions' actions in the territories, including during the war of 2014.
