ARGENTINA – ISRAEL: Lawsuit against Israeli leaders Netanyahu, Lieberman, Yaalon, Gantz and Feiglin for war crimes in Gaza
In two different initiatives Israeli leaders have been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The first is a lawsuit, filed in late August in the Federal Court of Córdoba by 12 members of civil society organisations, that targets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Foreign Affairs Avigdor Lieberman, Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon, Army General Benny Gantz and Vice-president of the Parliament Moshe Feiglin. The second initiative, announced in mid September by the American Association of Jurists (AAJ), aims at gathering evidence and filing a suit, with Palestinian victims and Israeli associations as plaintiffs, against the same five Israeli leaders. The first lawsuit argues that the actions that killed 2140 Palestinians including 570 children 80% of them civilians, wounded 11,000, destroyed 17.200 houses and damaged 38.000 buildings including some UN facilities, constitute war crimes. The state of Argentina recognises its universal jurisdiction in article 118 of its Constitution in cases of crimes against humanity, and can therefore judge such crimes. AAJ lawyer, Carlos Slepoy, has argued that prosecuting such crimes is particularly relevant considering that the ICC is not likely to investigate the case, as neither Israel or Palestine are parties of the Statute of Rome. The lawsuit requires the accusation of the Israeli leaders, their international arrest by the Interpol, and a sanction against the state of Israel which would pay reparations to affected families and the 4.5 billion euros that the UN estimates are needed to rebuild Gaza. (La Arena, 30/08/14; Público, 06/09/2014; Página 12, 16/09/14)