Sense of impunity ‘absolute’: The NGO holding Israeli soldiers to account

Israeli officials are acrophobic astir their soldiers being arrested aft warring successful Gaza aft a worker fled Brazil to debar being questioned implicit alleged warfare crimes helium committed successful Gaza and filmed for societal media.

The Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) is the unit down this planetary effort for accountability.

Formed conscionable 5 months ago, HRF has pulled unneurotic lawyers and activists from astir the satellite to hole cases, chiefly based connected societal media contented shared by Israeli soldiers themselves.

Israeli reservist Yuval Vagdani was among the archetypal of what HRF laminitis and Chair Dyab Abou Jahjah says volition beryllium galore soldiers accused of warfare crimes.

Speaking to the Israeli media connected Wednesday aft being “forced” to chopped his “dream trip” to Brazil short, Vagdani said uncovering himself taxable to an overseas warfare crimes probe aft having filmed himself blowing up people’s homes successful Gaza “felt a small similar a slug successful the heart”.

Israeli media responds to efforts to clasp reservists accountable [Screengrab, January 10, 2025/The Times of Israel/Ynet]

According to section media, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had played a captious relation successful helping Vagdani evade probe and imaginable prosecution for warfare crimes, archetypal arranging for him to beryllium smuggled into Argentina, and from determination to the United States, earlier yet leaving for Israel.

Israeli authorities and media person issued guidelines to soldiers connected evading apprehension overseas and camouflaging their identities portion connected deployment.

No effect has been received to Al Jazeera’s query arsenic to whether these other measures see grooming for reservists connected what mightiness represent a warfare crime.

Israeli reservist Yuval Vagdani successful Gaza [Courtesy of Instagram:@imamomarsuleiman]

Providing the grounds against them

After 15 months of Israeli soldiers proudly sharing videos of themselves committing imaginable warfare crimes successful Gaza, HRF had plentifulness of grounds to usage erstwhile seeking their prosecution nether planetary and home law.

The videos and stills amusement soldiers forcing Palestinian men to parade successful their underwear, abusing captives, looting and vandalising homes and even dressing up successful women’s covering they ransacked.

“This is astir being accountable to the law,” Abou Jahjah said. “If idiosyncratic soldiers consciousness they haven’t committed a warfare crime, that’s fine. Let’s perceive their case. It’s successful the interests of everyone to bash so.”

Hind Rajab is the sanction of a five-year-old miss who was killed successful a car successful Gaza by Israel arsenic she pleaded connected the telephone for 3 hours for help, surrounded by members of her dormant household and successful show of the Palestinian paramedics who were besides killed arsenic they attempted to scope her.

So far, the instauration named aft her has filed much than 1,000 cases to the planetary court.

Palestinian miss Hind Rajab poses for a photograph, successful this undated handout representation obtained by Reuters connected February 10, 2024 [Palestine Red Crescent Society/Reuters]

HRF lawyers and online activists trawl done mountains of images and videos submitted to them online to verify and geolocate each one, cheque its metadata and verify its concatenation of custody, from the worker filming it done to HRF, Abou Jahjah explained.

Where the perpetrator is simply a dual national, HRF seeks prosecution nether the 2nd country’s existing laws connected warfare crimes and successful the lawsuit of sole Israeli citizens, collate ineligible files, which are past filed arsenic grounds with the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Predictably, HRF’s enactment has been met with fierce disapproval successful Israel, with immoderate claiming that these ineligible procedures are “doxxing” (the unauthorised work of idiosyncratic identities) of soldiers who filmed themselves.

Abou Jahjah has besides been personally threatened by Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli, who – alluding to the attacks connected Hezbollah’s members’ connection systems successful September 2024 – told him to “watch your pager”.

[Screengrab from Twitter/X connected January 6, 2025]

“I don’t truly care,” Abou Jahjah said, “I’ve been astatine this for galore years and, erstwhile you comparison it to what’s happening successful Gaza, threats against maine don’t truly magnitude to much.”

HRF besides maintains a catalogue of what it describes arsenic the “perpetrators, accomplices and inciters” it is seeking investigations against for warfare crimes.

Impunity and persecution

“They’re arrogant of these acts,” Milena Ansari of Human Rights Watch said from Jerusalem of the imaginable warfare crimes broadcast by soldiers crossed societal media.

“Putting it online some adds to the dehumanisation of Palestinians arsenic good arsenic provides origin for existent celebration,” she told Al Jazeera.

“The consciousness of impunity is implicit … It’s ever been there, particularly with respect to Israeli actions successful the occupied West Bank, but it’s accrued importantly since October 2023 [when Israel’s warfare connected Gaza began].”

Many successful Israel respect the cases against reservists arsenic unjust and a continuation of centuries of anti-Semitism, feelings claimed and weaponised by the Israeli state, governmental idiosyncratic Ori Goldberg said from Tel Aviv.

“Things are deteriorating wrong Israel,” Goldberg said. “You can’t prosecute successful a genocide for 15 months and expect thing else. Israel has been fundamentally changed.

An Israeli worker stands successful an flat during a crushed cognition successful the Gaza Strip, connected Wednesday, November 8, 2023 [Ohad Zwigenberg/AP Photo]

“People don’t respect Palestinians arsenic adjacent quality now, if they ever truly did. To astir people, Palestinians aren’t adjacent vermin. Vermin has to beryllium killed. Palestinians are little than that,” helium said.

In that context, a fewer soldiers “letting disconnected steam” during a warfare that nary feels liable for, wherever the lone victims were Palestinian, was understandable to galore wrong Israel, Goldberg said

“They’re spinning this arsenic the satellite against Israel,” Goldberg said of the authorities and media effect to the galore investigations and prosecutions thought to beryllium nether way.

“It’s the persecution of the Jews, each implicit again,” helium said.

“Most radical don’t adjacent consciousness that Gaza has thing to bash with them,” Goldberg continued, “On the 1 hand, we proceed to weaponry it, connected the other, we consciousness we’re unaccountable for what goes connected there.”