The Legal Department of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine welcomed the decision of the Slovenian authorities to ban Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from entering its territory, based on the arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court on charges of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.
The Department affirmed that this step reflects Slovenia’s commitment to international law and human rights principles, and comes as a continuation of its recent positions towards Israel, which included: designating the extremist ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich as persona non grata, imposing a comprehensive ban on the import, export, and transit of weapons to and from Israel, prohibiting the entry of settlement products, and officially recognizing the State of Palestine.
In this context, the Legal Department warned of the grave implications of reports indicating the involvement of major technology companies in supporting Israel’s war machine by providing artificial intelligence technologies that were used in the aggression against Gaza. It referred specifically to recent revelations that Unit 8200 of the Israeli army had stored massive amounts of Palestinian surveillance data on Microsoft’s Azure cloud servers, in clear violation of usage terms.
The Department added that Microsoft’s decision to launch an internal investigation does not absolve it of responsibility, especially in light of statements by its officials that such inquiries will not affect ongoing cooperation with Israel. It stressed that the continued provision of cloud services and AI tools to Israel by technology companies renders them direct partners in crimes committed against Palestinian civilians.
The Legal Department therefore called on the International Criminal Court to investigate the role these companies play in enabling Israel to commit war crimes and acts of genocide, in accordance with the obligations set forth in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which explicitly prohibits conspiracy, incitement, and participation in such crimes.
The statement concluded by emphasizing the necessity for both State Parties and non-State Parties to the Rome Statute to cooperate with the International Criminal Court and defend its independence against political pressures, ensuring accountability for perpetrators of these crimes and those complicit in facilitating them.