Spanish court drops criminal charges against Israeli officials; Israel happy

Wednesday July 01, 2009 10:44 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC

Several Israeli leaders were pleased to hear that the Spanish National Court decided on Tuesday to shelve an investigation into the death of 14 Palestinians, mainly women and children, when the army shelled a building in Gaza in 2002 and assassinated a Hamas leader.

The Israeli occupation terrorist army shelled an apartment building with the aim to assassinate Salah Shihada, one of the senior Hamas leaders. Shihada was killed, but the missiles fired by the Israeli forces at the building also claimed that lives of 14 civilians. 

 The bomb that was dropped onto the apartment building weighed one-ton. Judge Fernando Andreu stated that the shelling could constitute a crime against humanity.     

He named several suspected involved in the bombing, including Former Israeli Defense Minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, and six senior current and former Israeli army and Israeli intelligence officials, Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported.

The court had to drop the case as the Spanish parliament approved a preliminary legislation meant to limit the right of judges in Spain to investigate human rights violations in other parts of the world.

 Israeli Foreign Minister, former member of the outlawed terrorist Kach movement, Avigdor Lieberman, praised the decision and claimed that the whole case was just a political bid meant to exploit the judicial system in Spain.

 Former Israeli Foreign Minister, chairwoman of the Kadima party, Tzipi Livni, also welcomed the Spanish court’s decision.

The decision to shelve the case came one month after the Spanish legislators decided that Spanish courts cannot investigate crimes of genocide in other parts of the world.

Haaretz stated that the Spanish government announced earlier this year that it would change the law after repeated protests from Israel after the Spanish High Court decided in January to launch a war crimes probe against seven Israeli officials.

Shihada lived in al Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City. The Israeli army dropped a one-ton bomb on the building where Shihada and his family lived killing him and 14 more Palestinian civilians. The shelling left 170 Palestinians wounded, many seriously.

The assassination was interpreted as a direct Israeli statement against truce especially since it came in the same week in which Hamas, the Islamic Jihad and several other Palestinian factions declared acceptance to a long-term truce with Israel. 

It also came was diplomatic talks were heading towards easing the tension between the Palestinians and Israel as an official Palestinian delegation of five legislators held, in the day of the assassination, a meeting with an Israeli delegation headed by former Israeli Foreign Minister, current president of Israel, Shimon Peres.

Spain drops probe into 2002 Gaza bombing

Date: 30 / 06 / 2009  Time:  17:22
Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies –

Spain’s highest criminal court shelved an investigation of crimes against humanity over a 2002 Israeli airstrike on Gaza that killed 14 civilians, judicial sources said.

The National Audience, the country's top criminal court, decided to close the investigation on the recommendation of prosecutors, who argued that Israel’s internal investigation of the matter was sufficient.

In the attack, an Israeli warplane dropped a one-ton bomb on an apartment block in Gaza City, killing Hamas member Salah Shehadah and 13 others.

Judge Fernando Andreu had named former Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and six current or former military officers and officials.

The decision follows a preliminary move by Spain’s parliament to curb the ability of judges to try potential war criminals under the country’s universal jurisdiction statute.

The six judges presiding over the Spanish National Court are currently handling 13 human rights violations cases, concerning countries including Iraq and Rwanda.