Global network of lawyers to pursue Israeli soldiers in courts

A global network of lawyers and legal organisations has come together to file criminal complaints and investigate Israeli war crimes privately in courts around the world.

The coalition, named Global 195, will seek the arrest and prosecution of high-ranking Israeli officials including dual nationals who serve in the Israeli military.

It is being led by the UK-based legal charity International Centre for Justice for Palestinians, led by solicitor Tayab Ali, and will bring in lawyers from Malaysia, Turkey, Norway, Canada, Bosnia and the UK.

They will draw on alleged war crimes compiled in a shared library of evidence by the ICJP.

"We can no longer rely on the institutions that are supposed to hold war criminals responsible, so it's left to society," Mr Ali told The National on Tuesday. “Under international law, states have a duty to investigate and prosecute war crimes, yet these obligations have been systematically neglected. The launch of Global 195 is a necessary legal intervention to remedy this failure."

The group’s aim is to “bridge the gap” left by international institutions and state actors who are “failing” to prosecute Israel for alleged war crimes committed against Palestinians, a statement from the coalition said.

“Those responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza are subject to legal accountability and no longer have anywhere to hide.”

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

In the UK, the ICJP is already working to pursue British members of the Israeli military who are suspected of committing war crimes in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

Mr Ali said the ICJP had identified "tens of suspects" in the UK and would announce the first applications for private prosecutions of British members of the Israeli military in the coming weeks. "We worry about whether the attorney general will give consent to these prosecutions or not," he told The National.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Monday accused Israel of breaching international law with its blockade on Gaza and has previously said the UK would act on the arrest warrants issued by the ICC.

The evidence library includes 135 first-hand witness accounts from across Gaza which are supported by open source intelligence.

Former Metropolitan Police detectives are also understood to have advised on the creation of the archive so that it could meet the standards of evidence required by the UK, as well as international criminal courts and tribunals.

The ICJP said its archive confirms a “pattern of systematic violations” including the indiscriminate bombing of civilians, attacks on designated safe zones, air strikes on refugee camps, enforced mass displaced and the use of starvation as a weapon of war.

“We are convinced that such crimes have been committed in Gaza. This complaint should now lead to independent and impartial investigations of the alleged war crimes, also by prosecutors in third States assigned with extraterritorial jurisdiction,” said a joint statement from Norwegian pressure groups ICJ Norway and Defend International.