Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (photo: AP)
Spain
Issues Arrest Warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu
By Cathleen Chen, The
Christian Science Monitor
18 November 15
The
Spanish national court has reopened a 2010 case against seven current and
former top Israeli leaders for a naval incident that resulted in the death of
10 Turkish activists.
A Spanish
judge has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
and other former and current government officials for a deadly fight at sea in
2010. As long as the warrant is in effect, if Netanyahu and those officials set
foot in the western European country, they could be detained and questioned.
The
2010 incident was a flotilla raid, in which a group of pro-Palestinian human
rights activists attempted to disrupt an Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza
Strip. Israeli naval forces were able to stop the flotilla, but when they
boarded one of the activists’ ships, the Mavi Marmara, they were attacked by knives and clubs.
In an
ensuing gun battle, nine activists died. Most of the deceased were part of a
Turkish NGO, the IHH, that has alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood.
In
addition to Mr. Netanyahu, the implicated officials include former Foreign
Minister Avigdor Liberman, former defense ministers Moshe Ya’alon and Ehud
Barak, former Interior Minister Eli Yishai, former Intelligence Minister Dan
Meridor, and Minister without Portfolio Bennie Begin.
The
Israeli officials are largely dismissive of Spain’s warrants.
“It’s
a provocation,” Foreign Ministry Emmanuel Nahshon told The Times of Israel on
Tuesday. “The Israeli embassy in Madrid is in touch with Spanish General
Prosecutor in order to close the file as promptly as possible.”
The
Spanish case against Israel first emerged following the incident in 2010, when
three Spaniards aboard the Mavi Marmara sued Netanyahu and his cohorts. Turkey
and Britain also began prosecution against Israel,
The Jerusalem Post reports, but both efforts have since been suspended.
In
Spain, a judge in its National Court known as the Audiencia Nacional decided in
2010 the country no longer had the authority to file lawsuits regarding
international incidents, despite its litigious track record in world affairs as
a frontrunner in universal justice.
Referred
to the International Criminal Court, an international tribunal established in
The Hague in the Netherlands, the case was eventually dismissed.
That
is, until Friday, when Spanish Judge Jose De La Mata found a legal loophole
that gives Spanish authorities jurisdiction to reopen the case if any of the
seven Israeli officials set foot in Spain.
Judge
De La Mata has instructed Spanish police to keep tabs on the travel movements
of “The Seven” incriminated Israeli officials.
With the exception of Netanyahu, who has international immunity, the leaders
could be placed under arrest and detained if they enter Spain.
“This
is an issue that has been subject to legal proceedings for several years now,”
Nahshon told Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth. “We hope that the case will
be closed soon, as it should have been a long time ago.”
In
2002, following the Israel Defense Forces’ bombing of Hamas leader Salah
Shehadeh, Spain brought forth a slew of war crime allegations against
the Jewish state under the principle of universal jurisdiction. The judiciary
investigation halted in 2009, however, when the Supreme Court of Spain upheld
the decision of lower courts and Israel’s High Court in favor of the IDF. The
bombing killed 15 civilians and injured 150 others.
In
another instance of exceptional conviction under universal jurisdiction, Spain
launched a 2006 investigation into whether seven former Chinese leaders,
including former President Jiang Zemin, had committed genocide in Tibet in
1950. The probe was shelved in 2010 for the same reason as the flotilla raid
initially.
Spain
had considerable success in extraditing former Chilean dictator Augusto
Pinochet in 1998. The Audiencia Nacional had accepted in 1996 a lawsuit against
the despot under charges of terrorism, torture, and genocide. Pinochet was
arrested in London – the first time a former head of state had been apprehended under universal
jurisdiction – and British judges ruled in favor of his
extradition to Spain.
But
the extradition never happened, and Pinochet was released back to Chile in
2000. Still, human rights activists consider it a milestone in the pursuit of
global justice.
Today,
such efforts persist. The Spanish judge who went after Pinochet 20 years ago,
Baltasar Garzón, is still fighting for the legitimacy of international justice.
Except now, he’s targeting big corporations he says are guilty of labor abuse
and excessive pollution.
“Humanitarian
and economic crises cause more deaths around the world than
all of the genocides we have documented,” Garzón told The Guardian in August.
In
September, he was part of an international congregation of activists, judges,
and academics who met in Argentina to expand the salience of universal
jurisdiction.
C 2015 Reader Supported News
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has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives."
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