Gaza Genocideupdated 1h ago2 min read
Archive photo · 27 March 2013Brazil Court Orders War Crimes Probe Into Israeli Soldier After Hind Rajab Foundation Complaint
6 Other1 Israeli1 West Asian1 Western MainstreamPhoto: Paulo RS Menezes, CC BY-SA 3.0 br · Cropped for layout
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Brazilian court opened probe into IDF soldier for Gaza war crimes after Hind Rajab complaint. Soldier fled Brazil and is believed to have crossed to Argentina to evade arrest warrant.
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Brazil probe, flight, fallout
A Brazilian Federal Court ordered police to open a war crimes investigation into an Israeli soldier vacationing in Brazil, after the Hind Rajab Foundation filed a complaint accusing him of “participating in massive demolitions of civilian homes in Gaza during a systematic campaign of destruction.” The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry said it helped the former soldier leave Brazil on a commercial flight after it described “anti-Israel elements” as requesting an investigation, and it said the Consular Section and the Israeli Embassy in Brazil “accompanied him throughout the event until his swift and safe departure from Brazil.”
The Hind Rajab Foundation’s lead lawyer Maira Pinheiro said, “This is not a case of distant command,” and she argued the individual “actively contributed to the destruction of homes and livelihoods.” The case drew immediate political reaction in Israel, with Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein announcing an urgent discussion in the Knesset about how to protect IDF soldiers abroad from war crimes allegations.
Israel’s response and legal debate
Israel’s Foreign Ministry 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.” Attorney Yuval Kaplinsky described Israel’s response as “overstatements” that went “beyond reach,” and he said the facts were “very, very simple” because a soldier should not worry if he did not record himself committing activities considered war crimes.
Yair Lapid blamed Israel’s leadership for the possible prosecution of Israeli soldiers abroad, writing on X that the fact that an Israeli reservist was forced to flee Brazil “is a huge political failure by an irresponsible government that simply doesn’t know how to work.” Gideon Sa’ar responded on X by calling Lapid “the charlatan,” and Sa’ar said a government resolution to address such cases was passed more than 15 years ago.
Broader pattern of complaints
Israel’s government said it knew of at least 12 cases in which complaints had been filed abroad against IDF soldiers accusing them of war crimes in Gaza, including in Brazil, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Belgium, the Netherlands, Serbia, Ireland and Cyprus.
Channel 12 reported that in most of those cases the complaints did not result in an investigation, and it said that in none of them was anyone arrested, while it described the Brazil incident as having nearly become a diplomatic crisis.
ANRed said a complaint was expanded in Argentina to request the detention of Yuval Vagdani, and it said the complaint is before Federal Court No. 3 led by Daniel Rafecas, with the function of delivering justice in the case in the hands of Ariel Oscar Lijo during recess.
ANRed also said the Hind Rajab Foundation presented evidence identifying soldiers in “concrete actions of war crimes that violate the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute,” and it described the case as part of an “alert that travels through the region.”