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"Israel" was weighing its options Sunday for further punishing the Palestinians after freezing millions in tax revenues as a first response to their bid to join the International Criminal Court.

The Palestinian move to join the Hague-based court sets the scene for potential legal action against "Israel" for war crimes.

But the request to join the court, formally presented on Friday, infuriated "Israel" which quickly moved to freeze the transfer $127 million in tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority.

"The Palestinian Authority has chosen to take a path of confrontation with "Israel", and we will not sit idly by," "Israeli" Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told cabinet ministers on Sunday.

In response, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat denounced the freezing of the transfer as "piracy".

"Israeli" officials warned it was only the first in a series of punitive steps.
"If the Palestinian Authority doesn't take a step back, I think we have to take much more severe steps," said the so-called "Strategic Affairs Minister" Yuval Steinitz, a close associate of Netanyahu, referring to a "gradual dissolution" of the PA.
"We should not aid the existence of this authority."

Speaking to "Israeli" diplomats serving in Europe, foreign ministry director general Nissim Ben Sheetrit said the Zionist entity's response would be "harsher and more comprehensive" than just freezing the taxes, but would not include settlement announcements, ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said.

""Israel" is about to switch to attack mode," Nahshon quoted him as saying, confirming comments first published by Haaretz website.
After the Palestinians won the upgraded UN rank of observer state in November 2012, Tel Aviv froze the tax monies and also announced plans for 3,000 units in the West Bank, as well as in Occupied al-Quds.

A senior official quoted by Haaretz said the government had learned a lesson from that incident and would not be taking any steps making "Israel" the focus of criticism rather than the Palestinians.

"We will not let "Israeli" soldiers and officers be dragged to the International Criminal Court in The Hague," Netanyahu told ministers on Sunday.

The ICC can prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed since July 1, 2002, when the court's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, came into force.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team