Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on the International Criminal Court to reject Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' application to sign onto the institution.
"We expect the International Criminal Court to summarily dismiss the Palestinian Authority's duplicitous application because the Palestinian Authority is not a state, it is an entity that is allied with a terror organisation, Hamas, which commits war crimes."
The move comes as Abbas signed onto the ICC just one day after a resolution that called for an end to Israeli occupation by 2017 failed to win sufficient support at the United Nations Security Council.
It follows other steps to seek the trappings of statehood without waiting for the outcome of negotiations with Israel.
Netanyahu also claimed that his country is a law-abiding state and vowed to defend Isreali soldiers.
A decision by the Israeli government gives the country's court jurisdiction over crimes committed in Palestinian lands and could even lead to cases being brought against Israeli or Palestinian leaders.
Palestine won 'non-member observer state' status in the U.N. back in 2012.
Many European countries have been taking efforts in the last year to recognize a Palestinian state.
