TEL AVIV // Israeli military officers who took part in Israel's incursion of the Gaza Strip last winter may need to think twice before travelling to Europe.
Israeli media reported yesterday that human rights lawyers in the European Union are drawing up lists of names of Israeli military commanders alleged to be linked to war crimes committed in Gaza. The lawyers are hoping that the evidence they are collecting, including testimonies from Palestinians, will prompt countries such as Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway to arrest those Israelis linked to possible war violations who arrive on their soil.
The reports come as Israel is forging a battle against international efforts to bring it before a war crimes tribunal for its actions during the 22-day assault in the Gaza Strip in December and January.
Although such a possibility remains far off, it could potentially be spurred by a controversial UN report made public in September that alleged Israeli war crimes during the attacks, which killed almost 1,400 Palestinians.
An effort by the European lawyers would also add pressure on Israel to follow the recommendation of the UN report and launch a credible investigation into alleged war crimes.
The report, which also accused the Palestinian Islamic group Hamas of war crimes, suggested that the UN Security Council refer its findings to the International Criminal Court in The Hague if Israel and Hamas fail to conduct credible investigations within six months.
The document, based on an inquiry headed by Richard Goldstone, a former South African judge, is set to be discussed as early as next week at the UN General Assembly.
The debate may be prompted by the request of the Arab League's representative in the UN, made this week to the General Assembly president.
The representative, Yahya Mahmassani, told news agencies that the Arab League wants the General Assembly to pass a resolution approving the Goldstone report and requesting that the UN Security Council conduct a formal discussion on it.
But some European rights lawyers are not taking any chances that Israel may not end up before a war-crimes tribunal amid the expectation that the US, an Israeli ally, may hamper any UN move to forward the Goldstone report to prosecutors in The Hague.
According to Haaretz, a liberal Israeli daily newspaper, the lawyers' lists include army officers holding ranks of battalion commander and higher who participated in the Gaza attacks.
The lists and evidence are being collected by an informal network of European human rights lawyers, who share information with each other to prompt the arrest of officers who reach their respective countries.
According to Haaretz, they also track the activities of Jewish and pro-Israeli organisations in Europe that invite Israeli army officers to their events, and in some cases get tips from border police on the arrival of military officials.
Their efforts in Britain are being co-ordinated by Daniel Makover, a London-based lawyer who is filing cases in the names of Gaza civilians interviewed by his assistants in the weeks after the onslaught and who had requested that he represent them, Haaretz said.
Such cases would fall under the legal principle of "universal jurisdiction", applicable in countries like Britain, which states that some crimes are so heinous that they could be prosecuted locally even if they are alleged to have been committed elsewhere.
Although Mr Makover refused to disclose details identifying the targeted officers or how many were listed, he told Haaretz that the Goldstone report "strengthened our findings by mentioning the incidents with which we have already been familiar".
Mr Makover is no stranger to such actions. In 2005, he asked a British court to issue a warrant against Doron Almog, a retired Israeli general, on suspicion of war crimes he claimed were committed in Gaza under Mr Almog's watch while he served as chief of Israel's southern command. Mr Almog avoided getting arrested by remaining aboard his plane at London's Heathrow airport after getting a tip-off that police were outside to arrest him. The Israeli airline then flew him back to Israel. The warrant was eventually dropped for procedural reasons.
Although the British legal campaign has so far failed to have Israeli officials arrested, it has prompted some current and former members of the country's armed forces to feel its heat.
Moshe Yaalon, a cabinet minister and former military chief of staff, cancelled a trip to the United Kingdom this month because of concerns he could face possible charges for his involvement in a 2002 assassination of a Hamas militant leader that killed 14 other people, including nine children.
In September, British lawyers unsuccessfully tried to obtain an international arrest warrant for Ehud Barak, Israel's defence minister, during his visit in the country.
Mr Barak, whom Israeli officials said was immune from arrest because he was a top government official, had called the attempt "absurd" and blasted it as giving "a prize to terrorists".
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Ahmad El Sayed is Senior Associate at Charles Russell Speechlys, a law firm headquartered in London with offices in the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Hong Kong.
Experience: Commercial litigator who has assisted clients with overseas judgments before UAE courts. His specialties are cases related to banking, real estate, shareholder disputes, company liquidations and criminal matters as well as employment related litigation.
Education: Sagesse University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2005.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.
The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.
The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.
Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.
The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.
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