Israeli soldiers face growing risk of arrest abroad over Gaza

Country helped reservist leave Brazil last week after pro-Palestinian group brought legal action against him

Israel has warned soldiers they may be targeted for arrest while on holiday in a growing number of countries. AFP

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Fury erupted in Israel after news broke late last week that the country’s foreign ministry had to move urgently to evacuate one of its citizens from Brazil after reports that he was about to be arrested on suspicion of committing war crimes during his service in the Gaza war.

The unnamed soldier was rushed out of Brazil with the help of Israel’s Foreign Ministry after a Brazilian court brought a case against him based on content he had filmed himself while serving in Gaza.

The incident is the latest example of international legal difficulties Israel faces amid widespread criticism of how it is conducting war on the enclave, which began in October 2023. These include the International Court of Justice investigating whether the country is committing genocide and the International Criminal Court issuing arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant.

The Brazil case raises concerns that regular Israelis could too find themselves in serious legal trouble because of the conflict. Israel’s Foreign Ministry was aware of at least 12 cases of war crimes charges being filed against Israeli soldiers while they were abroad, Israeli outlet Channel 12 reported on Sunday. The countries included popular tourist destinations for Israelis such as Thailand and Cyprus, as well as close allies, such as the Netherlands.

Tammy Caner of the Israeli think tank INSS told The National she believed there will be more such cases and that Israel should deal with the phenomenon “through diplomatic channels more than anything”.

“As a democratic and liberal country Israel also has to investigate different operations where there is a suspicion that war crimes were committed,” Ms Caner added.

The material in the Brazil case was flagged to authorities by pro-Palestinian NGO the Hind Rajab Foundation, which says it organises legal campaigns against “perpetrators, accomplices and inciters of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine”.

The Belgium-based organisation adds that it is “devoted to breaking the cycle of Israeli impunity” and to “[holding] perpetrators accountable and ensuring that the stories of the victims are never lost to history”.

It draws on material posted by Israeli soldiers, who, despite a number of warnings from senior leadership not to do so, frequently publish identifiable images and videos that are used to argue that troops are committing or endorsing war crimes, including destruction of property and inhumane treatment of prisoners. The military also advised soldiers not to visit certain countries for risk of being detained.

Palestinian commentator Nour Odeh said the case showed that the work of organisations such as the Hind Rajab Foundation “is effective and has a deep psychological impact on Israeli soldiers who have never dreamt of being pursued”.

“Just like this genocide has been transformative in many ways and fronts, it has transformed civil society’s work and understanding of what needs to be done,” Ms Odeh said, adding that such initiatives put pressure on Israel's western allies.

“We’ve seen cases in Germany of Syrian officers being tried, even in absentia. That’s OK, but it should not be counter-intuitive in the west that [Israeli] soldiers who have posted videos of themselves committing obvious crimes should be tried no matter what they've committed.”

Shortly after the news of the Brazil incident broke, opposition leader Yair Lapid slammed the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a post on X for the “huge political failure” of the incident and called for a state inquiry. “How did we get to the point where the Palestinians are better than the Israeli government in the international arena?” added Mr Lapid, who previously served as both a prime minister and foreign minister.

Current Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called Mr Lapid a “charlatan” in response, adding that the latter “knows full well that such incidents also happened during his tenure”.

“Even the sly Lapid knows that what we are seeing before our eyes is a systematic and antisemitic system aimed at denying Israel's right to self-defence,” he added. “A patriotic opposition leader would write something about Brazil, whose antisemitic president Lula accused Israel of genocide at the beginning of the war and claimed that the [Israeli military’s] actions were similar to the actions of the Nazis”.

Relations between Brazil and Israel have dramatically worsened during the Gaza war, with Israel declaring Lula a persona non grata after the latter accused Israel of committing genocide in February.

Arsen Ostrovsky, of Israeli think tank Misgav, told The National that the actions of the Hind Rajab Foundation amounted to “lawfare,” a term used to describe the strategic use of legal action to damage an opponent.

“The biggest impact here will be a reconsideration of soldiers’ travel plans to certain destinations and an adverse effect on diplomatic relations between Israel and those countries that entertain these baseless legal assaults,” he added.

“The incoming Trump administration will also have a key role to play. They have already threatened to unleash a fury of sanctions against the International Criminal Court, which ought to be extended to any country that seeks to entertain this egregious abuse of the law by extremist anti-Israel groups hounding IDF soldiers.”