Latest news with #Global Legal Action Network
The Guardian
22-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Belgian police question two Israelis over war crimes accusations
Belgian authorities have said they briefly held and questioned two Israeli citizens who attended an electronic music festival last week, after pro-Palestinian groups accused them of war crimes. Prosecutors said they had received legal complaints alleging that two Israeli soldiers responsible for 'serious violations of international humanitarian law' in Gaza were spotted at the Tomorrowland festival near the northern city of Antwerp. The federal prosecutor's office said it had asked the police to locate the two people named in the complaint and to interview them. 'Following these interviews, they were released,' it said in a statement. The office said it had taken action after concluding that Belgian courts had extraterritorial jurisdiction over alleged war crimes. 'No further information will be given at this stage of the investigation,' the office said. The two Israelis have not been named. Last week, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), a Belgian pro-Palestinian organisation, said it had identified two Israeli soldiers 'responsible for grave international crimes' in Gaza among the crowds at Tomorrowland. It claimed that a group of young Israeli men were seen at the festival waving a flag of the Givati Brigade, an Israeli military unit involved in the fighting in the Palestinian territory. HRF said it had filed a complaint with prosecutors in association with the Global Legal Action Network, a lawyers' group specialising in human rights violations. One of the world's largest electronic music festivals, Tomorrowland draws music enthusiasts from all over the world. About 400,000 people are expected to attend the event this year over two weekends.
Al Jazeera
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Belgian police question Israelis over alleged Gaza war crimes
Belgian authorities have interrogated two members of the Israeli military following allegations of serious breaches of international humanitarian law committed in Gaza, the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Brussels said. The two people were questioned after legal complaints were filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Global Legal Action Network. The complaints were submitted on Friday and Saturday as the soldiers attended the Tomorrowland music festival in Belgium. 'In light of this potential jurisdiction, the Federal Prosecutor's Office requested the police to locate and interrogate the two individuals named in the complaint,' said the prosecutor's office in a written statement on Monday. 'Following these interrogations, they were released.' The questioning was carried out under a new provision in Belgium's Code of Criminal Procedure, which came into effect last year. It allows Belgian courts to investigate alleged violations abroad if the acts fall under international treaties ratified by Belgium – including the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture. The prosecutor's office said it would not release further information at this stage of the investigation. The Hind Rajab Foundation, based in Belgium, has been campaigning for legal action against Israeli soldiers over alleged war crimes in Gaza. It is named after a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by Israeli fire while fleeing Gaza City with her family early in Israel's war on Gaza. Since its formation last year, the foundation has filed dozens of complaints in more than 10 countries, targeting both low- and high-ranking Israeli military personnel. The group hailed Monday's developments as 'a turning point in the global pursuit of accountability'. 'We will continue to support the ongoing proceedings and call on Belgian authorities to pursue the investigation fully and independently,' the foundation said in a statement. 'Justice must not stop here – and we are committed to seeing it through.' 'At a time when far too many governments remain silent, this action sends a clear message: credible evidence of international crimes must be met with legal response – not political indifference,' the statement added. Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed the incident, saying that one Israeli citizen and one soldier were interrogated and later released. 'Israeli authorities dealt with this issue and are in touch with the two,' the ministry said in a statement cited by The Associated Press news agency. The incident comes amid growing international outrage over Israel's conduct in its war on Gaza. More than two dozen Western countries called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza on Monday, saying that suffering there had 'reached new depths'. After more than 21 months of fighting that have triggered catastrophic humanitarian conditions for Gaza's more than two million people, Israeli allies Britain, France, Australia, Canada and 21 other countries, plus the European Union, said in a joint statement that the war 'must end now'. 'The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths,' the signatories added, urging a negotiated ceasefire, the release of captives held by Palestinian armed groups and the free flow of much-needed aid. On Sunday, the World Food Programme accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking food aid. It said that shortly after crossing through the northern Zikim crossing into Gaza, its 25-truck convoy encountered large crowds of civilians waiting for food supplies, who were attacked. 'As the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire,' it said on X, adding that the incident resulted in the loss of 'countless lives' with many more suffering critical injuries. 'These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation. This terrible incident underscores the increasingly dangerous conditions under which humanitarian operations are forced to be conducted in Gaza.' Gaza's Health Ministry described the Israeli attack, which killed at least 92 people, as one of the war's deadliest days for civilians seeking humanitarian assistance. More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023, according to local health officials. Much of the territory lies in ruins, with severe shortages of food, medicine and other essentials due to Israel's ongoing blockade.
ABC News
21-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Two Israeli soldiers arrested at Belgium festival over Gaza war complaint
Two Israelis have been arrested and questioned in Belgium as part of an investigation into war crimes in Gaza. Two rights groups, the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Global Legal Action Network, said the pair were detained after the groups told Belgian authorities there was credible evidence they had committed war crimes in Gaza. "The action came in response to an urgent legal complaint filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) earlier this week," the Hind Rajab Foundation said in a statement. "The suspects were identified and arrested with a clear show of force at the Tomorrowland festival in Boom. After being taken into custody, they were formally interrogated and released." Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed two citizens on holiday in Belgium were briefly arrested in Belgium. It did not say whether they were arrested due to the war crimes allegations, but Belgium's public broadcaster said the prosecutor's office confirmed they were arrested because of the complaint. The rights groups said Belgian authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the pair. The Hind Rajab Foundation is a legal non-governmental organisation registered in Belgium, named after the five-year-old Gazan girl killed by Israeli forces in January 2024, in what UN experts said was a possible war crime. The group has been using the social media posts of travelling Israeli soldiers to track them and seek their arrests overseas using something called "universal jurisdiction", the legal principle that any state can try a person for a serious breach of international law, regardless of where the crime was committed. After the foundation began its campaign, the Israel Defense Forces subsequently released new restrictions to the media on identifying soldiers and told its members not to post about their actions in Gaza on social media. The Hind Rajab Foundation and other legal groups have sought the arrest of Israeli soldiers around the world — causing some holidaying Israelis to flee a number of countries — but the group said this was the first time authorities had actually detained anyone. "This development is a significant step forward," it said in a statement. "It signals that Belgium has recognized its jurisdiction under international law and is treating the allegations with the seriousness they deserve. "At a time when far too many governments remain silent, this action sends a clear message: credible evidence of international crimes must be met with legal response — not political indifference." The Israeli Government has sought to discredit the Hind Rajab Foundation, saying the group is "anti-Israel" and accusing its founder, Lebanese-born Belgian activist Dyab Abou Jahjah, of sympathising with the Shia militant group Hezbollah, a listed terrorist organisation in many countries, including Australia. Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has called the group: "a gang of Holocaust deniers, supporters of abducting Israeli civilians, and admirers of (former Hezbollah leader) the late (Hassan) Nasrallah." Pro-Israel politicians in Belgium sought to have the group de-registered but in May the country's justice minister said a state security evaluation had found no concrete evidence of links to Hezbollah or of any threat to the Belgian state.
The Guardian
21-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Belgian police question two Israelis over war crimes accusations
Belgian authorities have said they briefly held and questioned two Israeli citizens who attended an electronic music festival last week, after pro-Palestinian groups accused them of war crimes. Prosecutors said they received legal complaints alleging that two Israeli soldiers responsible for 'serious violations of international humanitarian law' in Gaza were spotted at the Tomorrowland festival near the northern city of Antwerp. The federal prosecutor's office said it had asked the police to locate the two people named in the complaint and to interview them. 'Following these interviews, they were released,' it said in a statement. The office said it took action after concluding that Belgian courts had extraterritorial jurisdiction over alleged war crimes. 'No further information will be given at this stage of the investigation,' the office said. The pair have not been named. Last week, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), a Belgian pro-Palestinian organisation, said it had identified two Israeli soldiers 'responsible for grave international crimes' in Gaza among the crowds at Tomorrowland. It claimed that a group of young Israeli men were seen at the festival waving a flag of the Givati Brigade, an Israeli military unit involved in the fighting in the Palestinian territory. HRF said it then filed a complaint with prosecutors in association with the Global Legal Action Network, a lawyers' group specialising in human rights violations. One of the world's largest electronic music festivals, Tomorrowland draws music enthusiasts from all over the world. About 400,000 people are expected to attend the event this year over two weekends.
