JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel said on Tuesday pressure groups were pushing foreign courts to take action against Israelis over alleged war crimes in Gaza but described the actions as “propaganda activity” and said no warrants had been issued.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as a Hamas leader, Ibrahim Al-Masri, over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
The warrants sparked outrage in Israel but also drew fears that similar warrants could be issued against Israelis who served in the military in Gaza.
On Sunday, an Israeli reservist on holiday in Brazil left the country after a Brazilian federal judge in Salvador ordered police to open an investigation into allegations that he had committed war crimes while serving with the military in Gaza.
The Hind Rajab Foundation, the pro-Palestinian group which brought the action, says on its website it “focuses on offensive legal action against perpetrators, accomplices and inciters of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine.”
The Belgium-based group, named after a Palestinian girl killed in Gaza last year, also said it had filed evidence of alleged war crimes with the ICC against 1,000 Israelis, including video and audio reports, forensic reports and other documentation. The ICC confirmed it had received a filing and said it would “analyse the materials submitted, as appropriate”.
Israel’s foreign ministry offered assistance to the reservist singled out by the action but officials said the issue was not widespread.
“This is a phenomenon of very limited scope in numbers,” foreign ministry director general Eden Bar Tal told reporters in Jerusalem, saying there had been no more than 10-12 cases since the beginning of Israel’s campaign in Gaza 15 months ago.
“There was no warrant issued in any of these cases. So it was, I would say, a relatively strong PR activity but with very low, very, very low – zero – in judicial results,” he said.
“We believe it’s a lot of propaganda activity in general and it’s sponsored by entities, a very low number of entities, that have direct connections to terrorist organizations,” he said.
Hind Rajab Foundation founder, Dyab Abou Jahjah, posts messages on the social media platform X promising to file legal action against Israeli soldiers and asking for help identifying them. He has also posted messages in support of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah movement, designated as a terrorist organization by many Western countries.
The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The case in Brazil attracted wide attention in Israel, underscoring fears that individuals beyond the government and military leadership could be drawn into the war crimes issue, particularly through social media posts.
The Israeli military has warned reservists that they could face arrest abroad over alleged war crimes in Gaza, according to documents published by Israeli media. The left-wing Haaretz newspaper said complaints against IDF soldiers have been filed in South Africa, Belgium and France as well as Brazil.
However, Rubens Becak, a law professor at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, said it was not always straightforward for third countries to respond to suits of this kind.
“Without specific legislation, it becomes very difficult for institutions such as the Federal Police to act in cases like this,” he said.
(Reporting by James Mackenzie, Stephanie Van Den Berg in The Hague, Ricardo Brito in Brasilia; Editing by Ros Russell)
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