Israeli officials are concerned about the arrest of their soldiers after fighting in Gaza, after a soldier fled Brazil to avoid being questioned over alleged war crimes he committed in Gaza and filmed for social networks.
The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), based in Belgium, is the force behind this international accountability effort.
Established just five months ago, the HRF brought together lawyers and activists from around the world to prepare cases, primarily based on social media content shared by Israeli soldiers themselves.
Israeli reservist Yuval Vagdani was among the first to be charged with war crimes, according to HRF founder and president Dyab Abou Jahjah.
Speaking to Israeli media on Wednesday after being “forced” to cut short his “dream trip” to Brazil, Vagdani said finding himself under investigation for war crimes abroad after filming himself on the train to blow up houses in Gaza “felt a bit like a bullet to the heart.”
According to local media, the Israeli Foreign Ministry played a crucial role in helping Vagdani evade investigation and possible prosecution for war crimes, first arranging his smuggling to Argentina and then to the United States. United, before finally leaving for Israel. .
Israeli authorities and media have issued guidelines for soldiers to avoid arrest abroad and conceal their identities while deployed.
No response was received to Tel Aviv Tribune’s question about whether these additional measures include training of reservists on what could constitute a war crime.
Provide evidence against them
After 15 months of Israeli soldiers proudly sharing videos of themselves committing potential war crimes in Gaza, HRF had ample evidence to use to seek prosecution under international and domestic law.
Videos and images show soldiers forcing Palestinian men to parade in their underwear, mistreating the captives, looting and vandalizing homes and even dressing in women’s clothes they have trashed.
“It’s about being accountable to the law,” Abou Jahjah said. “If soldiers feel that they have not committed a war crime, that is not a problem. Let’s hear their case. It is in everyone’s interest to do so.
Hind Rajab is the name of a five-year-old girl who was killed in a car by Israel in Gaza while she pleaded on the phone for three hours for help, surrounded by members of her deceased family and in view of paramedics Palestinians who were also killed while trying to reach it.
So far, the foundation that bears his name has filed more than 1,000 complaints with the international court.
HRF lawyers and online activists sift through the mountains of images and videos submitted to them online to verify and geotag each one, verify its metadata, and verify its chain of custody, from the soldier filming it to the FRH, explained Abou Jahjah.
When the perpetrator has dual citizenship, HRF prosecutes under the second country’s existing war crimes laws and, in the case of a single Israeli citizen, gathers legal records, which are then filed as evidence with of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Predictably, HRF’s work has been heavily criticized in Israel, with some claiming that these legal procedures constitute “doxxing” (the unauthorized publication of individual identities) of soldiers who filmed themselves.
Abu Jahjah was also personally threatened by Israeli Diaspora Minister Amichai Chikli, who – referring to attacks on Hezbollah members’ communications systems in September 2024 – told him to “watch your pager”.
“I don’t care,” said Abu Jahjah, “I’ve been here for many years and, when you compare that to what’s happening in Gaza, the threats against me don’t really amount to much.”
HRF also maintains a catalog of what it describes as the “perpetrators, accomplices and instigators” against whom it seeks war crimes investigations.
Impunity and persecution
“They are proud of these acts,” Milena Ansari of Human Rights Watch said from Jerusalem of potential war crimes broadcast by soldiers on social media.
“Putting it online adds to the dehumanization of Palestinians and gives rise to a real celebration,” she told Tel Aviv Tribune.
“The feeling of impunity is absolute… It has always existed, particularly with regard to Israeli actions in the occupied West Bank, but it has increased considerably since October 2023 (the date of the start of Israel’s war against Gaza). »
Many in Israel view the prosecution of reservists as unjust and a continuation of centuries of anti-Semitism, sentiments claimed and weaponized by the Israeli state, political scientist Ori Goldberg said from Tel Aviv.
“Things are getting worse in Israel,” Goldberg said. “We cannot engage in genocide for 15 months and expect anything else. Israel has been fundamentally changed.
“People don’t even think of Palestinians as human beings today, if they ever really did. To most people, Palestinians aren’t even vermin. The vermin must be killed. The Palestinians are less than that,” he said.
In this context, the fact that a few soldiers were “blowing off steam” during a war for which no one felt responsible, where the only victims were Palestinians, was understandable to many in Israel, Goldberg said.
“They are turning the world against Israel,” Goldberg said of the government and media response to the numerous investigations and lawsuits reportedly underway.
“It’s the persecution of the Jews all over again,” he said.
“Most people don’t even feel like Gaza has anything to do with them,” Goldberg continued. “On the one hand, we continue to bomb it, on the other, we feel irresponsible for what is happening there.”