The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported, citing security sources, that attempts to legally target army soldiers abroad are on the rise.
The authority added that about 50 complaints against reserve soldiers in the Israeli army were filed abroad, and investigations were opened in 10 countries, and so far no soldier has been arrested.
She indicated that there are no immediate or tangible fears in the countries she described as friendly to Israel regarding mass arrest orders, adding that no official instructions have yet been issued prohibiting travel to specific countries, although some of them are considered problematic.
The broadcaster said that individual cases are being dealt with in particular, such as soldiers who hold dual citizenship, especially for countries such as South Africa, or cases where there is intelligence information indicating the intention to target a specific person.
Israeli media said that an Israeli soldier wanted in Brazil was able to leave before his arrest, and that he was on his way to Tel Aviv.
It is noteworthy that the judicial authorities in Brazil issued an urgent order to the police to arrest an Israeli soldier and investigate him on charges related to his committing crimes in Gaza based on a criminal complaint filed by a human rights organization.
In the same context, Haaretz newspaper said that the Israeli army warned reserve soldiers abroad that they would be arrested because of their participation in the war on Gaza.
Israeli move
In the same context, the Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth said that Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar held a meeting of a team of ministers from the Mini-Ministerial Council for Political and Security Affairs, to discuss the protection of Jews and Israelis abroad.
The newspaper added that the meeting came after Sa’ar was personally busy dealing with a case that led to the smuggling of an Israeli soldier from Brazil.
She pointed out that the multilateral meeting is the first of its kind in a series of meetings to address this issue.
Yedioth Ahronoth explained that Sa’ar issued directives during the meeting to establish clear and immediate work procedures to deal with such cases.
In addition, Sa’ar directed that the army be informed that soldiers must receive instructions prohibiting them from publishing any documentation of operational activities, and he also issued a directive to conduct organized work to monitor organizations that work against IDF soldiers abroad.
Denounce the opposition
In a post on the “X” platform, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid denounced the fact that an Israeli soldier was forced to flee Brazil for fear of being arrested because he fought in Gaza, and considered this a massive diplomatic failure for a government without responsibility and unable to act.
Lapid wondered how to reach a situation in which the Palestinian becomes better than the Israeli government internationally, and where Israeli soldiers are afraid to travel for fear of arrest.
Human rights organizations in many countries announced that they had collected information about Israeli soldiers who published video clips of themselves committing crimes in Gaza, calling on local authorities to arrest them.
It is noteworthy that the newspaper “Israel Today” revealed that the mothers of Israeli soldiers sent a sharp letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Chief of Staff Herzi Halevy, holding them responsible for providing legal protection for their children.
The letter stated, “The army is fighting a long war of attrition, which has allowed extremist ideology to penetrate within it, and that mothers have repeatedly warned of the danger of international courts that threaten soldiers, and that the government has not done enough to protect their children.”
The letter also stated that commanders in the Army Reserve warned against arresting soldiers outside Israel, especially with the damage to the independence of the Israeli judicial system.
In turn, international law professor William Schabas rules out that Israel will succeed in protecting its soldiers and officers who commit war crimes and genocide in the Gaza Strip, and said that its judicial system has no credibility.
For his part, the academic and expert in Israeli affairs, Dr. Muhannad Mustafa, said – in his speech during the analytical pause “The Course of Events” – that the international prosecutions targeting Israeli soldiers constitute a concern for it, especially since it will open many files, including the absence of accountability and trial in the Israeli judiciary, And the issue of the government’s failure to defend these soldiers.
