Israel – Though charedim in Eretz Yisroel constantly have to defend themselves for not serving in the IDF, this week some were actively involved in high-profile moves to combat Hamas terrorism.
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A group of charedim living in Israel and who are part of a larger group of 15 Israelis with Belgian citizenship filed a suit in Brussels this week through Israel-based lawyers Mordechai Tzivin and Nechama Tzivin, accusing Hamas leaders of complicity in war crimes.
Belgian courts let citizens living anywhere in the world request criminal prosecutions for violations of their human rights.
“Our current legal efforts are intended to mark Hamas leaders in public opinion and among decision makers in Europe as the real war criminals. This is the only way for us to offset the ‘legal Intifiada’ being waged by pro-Palestinian groups in Europe. Issuing warrants against Hamas sends an important message – even if no actual arrests are made,” Mordechai Tzivin said in a conversation with VIN News in Israel on Thursday.
With a wide network of connections around the world, Tzivin has provided legal counsel in a number of enigmatic international cases, including the case of two young yeshiva students currently awaiting trial in Japan on charges of smuggling ecstasy into the country.
The motion calls for arrest warrants to be issued immediately against 10 Hamas military leaders and lawmakers, including Ismail Haniya, Khaled Meshaal, Mahmoud al-Zahar, Mohammad Daf and Ahmad Jabri, charging Hamas, during Operation Cast Lead in January, caused injuries, property damage and in one case a relative died as a result of Palestinian rocket attacks. The plaintiffs, who lived in and around Ashdod, asked not to be identified by name.
The group is making no effort to hide the fact that the case is a reaction to the flood of suits against Israeli military and government officials sweeping through Europe, including an arrest warrant against former foreign minister and opposition leader Tzipi Livni, which prevented her from traveling to London recently.
Tzivin told VIN News that the motion was submitted after six months of legal reparation and is based on solid evidence connecting Hamas leaders to terror attacks. He said the case against Hamas is supported by the Goldstone Report as well as reports issued by Amnesty International and B’tselem.
According to the Goldstone Report, launching rockets and mortars into civilian areas “constitutes war crimes and may amount to crimes against humanity.”
The motion filed in Brussels also cites an Amnesty International report that notes “such attacks constitute serious violations of international and humanitarian law and are war crimes.”
“Hamas is a terror organization which has been regularly violating every article of international law for years,” said Tzivin, “and the European justice system must realize that Hamas is a threat to the EU and to EU citizens, just as much as it is a threat to Israel.”
The motion has been submitted to the Belgium’s federal prosecutor and will now be passed on to an investigating judge.
“This is a first step in a broad offensive across Europe that will include Spain, Britain, Italy and other countries,” Tzivin added. The unprecedented court cases against Hamas officials are expected to limit their ability to travel free in Europe and hamper fundraising.
“The international community and UN agencies have singled out Israel for opprobrium while totally ignoring Hamas war crimes as spelled out by the Goldstone Report,” Atty. Nechama Tzivin told VIN News. “This is a major travesty of justice.”
I hope they get a jugment and freeze the Hamas accounts or go after incomming funding from other nations. This was done in the US before when Us citezens were murdered by terrorists abraud. B’hatslocha!
Go Belgian brothers, go.
Harbe Hatzloche!
While this makes a lot of sense, but I wonder if we’re better off just ignoring this stupid litigation tactic of the Palestinians, and showing everyone we couldn’t care less what European courts think. On the other hand, public opinion counts, and maybe we do need to garner some support from Europeans (if those knuckleheads have the capability of admitting any wrongdoing on the part of Palestinians).
these s/b done in every medina where possible.
kol hakovod
Very clever.
We should all support this effort.
Kol hakavod!
At first blush this sounds terrific. However, we need to remember that Israelis — particularly members of the government and those who have served in the IDF are also subject to similar tactics. Indeed, Tzipi Livni had to cancel a trip to England recently because of a similar effort against her. (oboviously the similarities are thin because she and the isrealies do not engage in war crimes, but the concept of suing someone in a foreign jurisdiction for an ALLEGED war crime is similar.) I wonder if it wouldn’t be best to leave foreign relations and issues concerning Israeli’s security to the IDF and foreign relations experts, rather than to individuals who may be well-intentioned, but not know what they are doing or have the bigger picture in mind.
Don’t worry. It won’t be long before the Belgian government and The international court etc. etc. are apologising to the arabs and hamas and ascribing this to to a few extremist zionist crackpots:-)