It’s not just Israel’s leaders who may need to be wary of traveling abroad. Now soldiers who have served in Gaza appear to face a growing risk of arrest themselves over allegations of war crimes in Israel’s assault on the besieged Palestinian enclave.
In a case that has sparked outcry in Israel and praise elsewhere, a soldier vacationing in Brazil fled the country after a judge ordered federal police to pursue an investigation in response to a legal filing accusing the soldier of war crimes in Gaza.
Israel’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement shared with NBC News on Monday that it had helped the former soldier leave Brazil on a commercial flight after what it described as “anti-Israel elements” requested an investigation last week.
“The Consular Section of the Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Brazil contacted the Israeli and his family, and accompanied him throughout the event until his swift and safe departure from Brazil,” it said.
The foreign ministry further warned Israelis against posting on social media about their military service, saying “anti-Israeli elements may exploit these posts to initiate futile legal proceedings against them.”
The case, which was brought by the Hind Rajab Foundation, or HRF, a Belgium-based organization seeking to document the actions of Israeli soldiers in Gaza and pursue justice for potential war crimes, accused the Israeli soldier of “participating in massive demolitions of civilian homes in Gaza during a systematic campaign of destruction.”
“This is not a case of distant command,” Maira Pinheiro, HRF’s lead lawyer, said in a statement on the organization’s website. “This individual actively contributed to the destruction of homes and livelihoods, and his own statements and behavior clearly align with the genocidal objectives in Gaza.”
Citing Article 88 of the Brazilian Code of Criminal Procedure, which covers proceedings for crimes allegedly committed outside of Brazil, Judge Raquel Soares Charelli directed federal police to launch an investigation into the soldier on Dec. 30, according to the Brazilian news outlet Metrópoles.
HRF also said Israeli officials assisted the soldier in fleeing Brazil.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and a spokesman for Defense Minister Israel Katz declined to comment on the incident. Israel’s foreign ministry and the Israel Defense Forces did not immediately…
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