Spanish Court Issues Arrest Warrants Against Six Israeli War Criminals Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Michael Herzog, Moshe Ya'alon and Dan Halutz, for Willful Killing of 17 Palestinian Civilians in Gaza, in 2002

Israel seeking to overturn arrest warrants for six military commanders accused of war crimes

Date: 11 / 08 / 2008 Time: 11:32
Gaza – Ma'an –

Israel is seeking to block an order by the National Court of Spain to arrest six Israeli military leaders who have been accused of war crimes.

Sources in the Israeli attorney general's office told the Jerusalem Post that the government is fighting to overturn the arrest warrants for the six, who a Palestinian human rights organization says are liable for the willful killing of 17 civilians in Gaza in 2002.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) filed a ground-breaking lawsuit against former Defence Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, his former military advisor, Michael Herzog, former Israeli Army Chief of Staff Moshe Ya’alon and Dan Halutz, former Commander of the Israeli Air Force.

This is the first time survivors of an Israeli military attack have filed a lawsuit against members of the Israeli military in Spain.

PCHR filed the suit on behalf of the survivors of the July 2002 bombing of the house of Salah Shehada, a member of the armed wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam Brigades.

The bomb killed Salah Shehada and seventeen civilians, including his wife, his daughter, his guard, eight children (including a 2-month infant), two elderly men, and two women. 77 other people were injured, 11 houses were destroyed and 32 houses damaged.

According to PCHR, the government of Israel and the military commanders were aware that Shehada's wife and children were in the house at the time.

PCHR welcomes Spanish High Court ruling to apprehend six Israeli officials

Sunday August 10, 2008 22:55 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, PCHR, welcomed on Sunday the decision of the Spanish High Court to issue arrest warrants against six current and former Israeli poetical and military leaders for their roles in committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

The six officials are Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, Doron Almong, Moshe Ya’alon, Dan Halutz, Giora Eiland and Mike Hertzog.

The petition was filed to the High Court by the PCHR. It states that those officials are responsible for war crimes against humanity in Gaza and participated in dropping a one-ton bomb on a civilian neighborhood in Gaza city in 2002. Fifteen residents were killed and dozens were wounded.

Ben-Eliezer was serving as the Defense Minister, Ya’alon was the Israeli Army Chief of Staff, Eiland was the head of the national Security Council, Halutz was the commander of the Israeli Air Froce, Almog was military head of the Southern Command and Herzog served as a senior official of the Israeli Defense Ministry.

Raji Sourani, head of the PCHR, stated on Sunday that those officials are criminals who committed horrific crimes against humanity and participated in dropping the 15-ton bomb on the civilian neighborhood in Gaza.

The office of the Higher Prosecutor of the Spanish High Court said that Israel is battling in order to void this ruling as the court also issued arrest warrants against the six Israeli officials.

The Jerusalem Post reported on Sunday that the office of the Israeli General Attorney said that Israel is currently holding active talks with Spain to void these arrest warrants.

The Jerusalem Post added that Ofer Zalzberg, who co-chairs the Young Israeli Forum for Cooperation, an Israeli organization that promotes Israeli European ties, sad that this ruling, if not reversed, “could set a dangerous precedent”.

The PCHR, headed by Raji Sourani, welcomed this decision and stated that all of the officials in question are criminals and carried horrific war crimes against humanity.

Rourani added that “A one-ton bomb was thrown by the army at a civilian neighborhood and killed 15 residents”.

PCHR welcomes Spanish court decision to arrest former Israeli officials

[ 11/08/2008 - 10:17 AM ]

RAMALLAH, (PIC)--

The Palestinian center for human rights on Sunday welcomed the Spanish court's ruling to apprehend six former Israeli military officials for ordering and supervising the murder of 15 Palestinians in Gaza in summer 2002.

Raji Al-Sourani, the PCHR director, said in a press release that the Israeli officials are "criminals" and have committed horrible crimes against humanity.

He explained that they have ordered the shelling of a Palestinian civilian building with a 1000-kg bomb that killed 15 people mostly women and children and wounded more than 70 others.

The Palestinian center for human rights filed a lawsuit against those ex officials before the court last month on behalf of six Palestinians who survived the Israeli extra judicial execution operation in the Gaza Strip.

Warrants of arrest were issued by the court against Binyamin Ben Aliezer, who was then the Israeli war minister, Dan Halutz, former Israeli air-force commander, Moshe Ya'alon, former chief of staff, Doron Almog, former commander of the IOF southern command, Giora Eland, the national security advisor, and Micky Herzog, the military advisor of the war minister.

According to the court ruling, the Israeli officials will be promptly arrested once they landed in Spain without any consideration to diplomatic immunity that a number of them may possess now, explaining that the charges filed against the seven officials were grave and classified under "war crimes".

The Israeli raid targeted Sheikh Salah Shehada, the general commander of the Qassam Brigades the armed wing of the Hamas Movement. He was killed along with his wife and two daughters in addition to a number of children and women who were at the building.

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