Monday, June 30, 2008

Israel tells some officials not to visit Spain over int'l arrest warrant

A Spanish human rights organization, believed to be representing a Palestinian group, filed a lawsuit last week against Israeli officials involved in the assassination of senior Hamas member Salah Shehade six years ago. Sixteen Palestinians were killed in the airstrike in the heart of Gaza.

Nearly all heads of the defense establishment at the time of the assassination are included in the list of defendants: Former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, former IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General (Res.) Moshe Yaalon, former Shin Bet Director Avi Dichter, former Israel Air Force Commander Dan Halutz, former head of the IDF Operation Branch Major-General (Res.) Giora Eiland, and former Southern Command Chief Doron Almog.

Spain is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague and has adopted a law allowing war crime lawsuits to be filed within its borders. According to the ICC's constitution, any of its members have the universal judicial authority to try suspected war criminals, even if the defendants or the acts they are suspected of have nothing to do with that particular country.

Since the war in Iraq, the United States has been pressuring European countries not to use this universal authority.

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