Lawsuit Filed in Spanish Court to Try Israeli War Criminals Ben-Eliezer, Michael Herzong, Moshe Ya'alon, Dan Halutz

Lawsuit filed in Spanish court to try Israeli war criminals

Date: 22 / 07 / 2008 Time: 14:47
Bethlehem – Ma'an –

A lawsuit has been filed in the National Court of Spain with the aim of issuing warrants for the arrest of high-ranking Israeli security officials for war crimes.

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) has filed the suit against those involved in the sanctioning of the 2002 bombing of a building in the Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City in which fifteen civilians were killed.

The warrants include former defence minister of the Israeli occupation government, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, his former military advisor, Michael Herzog, former Israeli occupation army Chief of Staff, Moshe Ya’alon and Dan Halutz, former Commander of the Israeli Air Force.

If the case is successful those charged would be arrested upon entering Spanish territory, stripping them of the diplomatic immunity some of them currently enjoy.

PCHR have filed the lawsuit on behalf of six Palestinians who survived the Israeli extra judicial execution operation. The National Court of Spain has accepted the case for further examination, the first step towards launching a formal prosecution. This is the first time survivors of an Israeli military attack have filed a lawsuit in Spain against members of the Israeli military.

The Israeli occupation government foreign ministry was provided with a report on the case on Tuesday and say they are examining legality of the case. The courts of Great Britain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United States and New Zealand have all previously accepted cases against the Israeli military.

The attack occurred on 22 July 2002, when an Israeli Air Force jet dropped a 2000 lb. bomb on the house of Salah Shehada, a commander of the El-Quassam Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah. The explosion killed fifteen civilians along with Shehada, including eight children and three women.

Israeli intelligence apparently informed [former] Israeli Army Chief of Staff, General Moshe Ya’alon, that Shehada’s wife and daughter “Were close to him during the implementation of the assassination … and there was no way out of conducting the operation despite their presence.”

PCHR mentioned that similar cases have been filed in Israeli courts, but have not resulted in prosecutions.

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