It’s a report by a Palestinian investigative journalist, Younis Tirawi, that was the basis for the opening of a criminal investigation into war crimes in Gaza on October 17, in Belgium. The results of his investigation were widely reported by the Belgian press, based on an article published in the newspaper De Morgen on October 9. The Belgian-Palestinian Association (ABP) reacted by filing a complaint with an examining magistrate against a Belgian-Israeli soldier who appears in the report.
For six months, Tirawi followed a sniper unit of Tsahal, the Israeli army, active in Gaza. He specifically interviewed an American soldier who is a senior member of this unit, known as “Refaim” (“ghost” in Hebrew). Among other things, the soldier stated that they had orders to shoot civilians, even if they were unarmed and posed no threat, and also to shoot people who come to collect the bodies. He backed this up with videos of their missions. The report revealed that 21 people were part of this unit, including several members with dual nationality: three American-Israelis, two French-Israelis, one German-Israeli, one Italian-Israeli and one Belgian-Israeli.
Murders in Gaza
“The confessions made by the unit’s officer are war crimes. And given that a Belgian is involved in these crimes, Belgian courts have jurisdiction to try him, even if the crimes were committed abroad,” says ABP, represented by two lawyers, Alexis Deswaef and Véronique van der Plancke.
According to Tirawi’s investigations and research done by ABP, this sniper, identified only by his initials A.B., is a young man of 21 who lived in Uccle, a city in the south of the Brussels region, before moving to Tel Aviv in 2022 and joining the Israeli armed forces. He reportedly returned to Belgium at least once after his mission in Gaza.
Similar complaints could be filed in the other countries from which some members of the Refaim unit come, notably France, Germany and Italy. “Together with our member organisations in various countries, we are considering what actions to take in these countries, in terms of both international and national justice,” saysDeswaef, who is also the vice-president of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).
Illegal settlements in the West Bank
The federal public prosecutor’s office in Belgium has opted for a cautious approach, by opening a judicial inquiry, rather than an investigation, into A.B. In other words, the public prosecutor’s office considers that there are no grounds for appointing an investigating judge at this stage. However, the criminal investigation has already been set in motion by the civil party complaint filed by ABP.
While the legal inquiry into this case has only just begun, and much information remains to be verified about the possible involvement of this Belgian in the murders of Palestinian civilians, another case is virtually completed. On January 5, 2021, ABP lodged a complaint against a Belgian citizen suspected of being the head of a group of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, who were carrying out acts of forced colonisation that could be classified as war crimes. This woman, Nadia Matar, aged 58, is a media figure of radical right-wing activism in Israel. She has posted many videos on social networks where she claims responsibility for her violent actions. The Belgian investigative magazine Médor had already written an article about her in 2017, noting that the “hard-hitting actions” of this activist were beginning to find a wide echo in the spheres of Israeli power.
“Nadia Matar was born and grew up in Antwerp, before studying in Brussels. She then emigrated to Israel, where she married an American doctor and settled down in the south of Bethlehem. She presided Women in Green, a nationalist organisation founded in 2000, which considers the Oslo Accords [the Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements signed in 1993] as a betrayal. She claims responsibility for her actions and even promotes them,” says Deswaef. “The examining magistrate closed his investigation after three years and sent the case to the federal public prosecutor’s office to issue an indictment. We were therefore expecting a trial to take place soon, but we learned in September that the federal public prosecutor’s office had requested additional investigations,” he adds. “These new lines of investigation relate to a contextualisation of the facts, an analysis of the status of the occupied Palestinian territories and the movement to which Nadia Matar belonged, as well as her role in that movement. If one was afraid of organising this trial, one wouldn’t act any differently,” thunders ABP’s lawyer.
Double standard?
“It is very important for national courts to prosecute and try their own nationals who commit war crimes abroad. We must also be able to do this when it comes to Israel, otherwise we risk being criticised for applying a double standard. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is also criticized for double standard, as it acted swiftly against Russia and is dragging its feet against Israel. We know that the ICC is subject to intense pressures, even threats, from both Israel and the United States. This is also one of the reasons why third countries should try their own nationals who commit crimes in Gaza,” says the human rights activist. “International law must be enforced to force a ceasefire and put an end to the impunity that feeds those crimes. Belgian justice must do its part, alongside international justice.”
Both soldier A.B and Nadia Matar are in Israel. As they have not yet been charged, they have no known lawyer.
