The judge of the National Court Antonio Piña has asked the Prosecutor’s Office if the body is competent to open an investigation against the Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), Herzi Halevi, and other Israeli military commanders for the alleged illegal detention on April 7 of a Spanish peacekeeper who was part of the UN mission in Lebanon. The move comes after a complaint from the political party Iustitia Europa, which points out that the attack was “deliberate” and that this “hostile act” against a Spanish citizen must not go unpunished.
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In a document dated this Friday, accessed by EL PAÍS, Judge Piña agrees to initiate preliminary proceedings, which is an initial step when the complaint presents the necessary elements to investigate a criminal conduct. The judge argues that the facts for which Iustitia Europa filed the complaint present “characteristics that suggest the possible existence of a criminal offense.”
For the party, what happened “constitutes a flagrant violation” of the UN Security Council resolutions and International Humanitarian Law. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) reported on April 7 that, early in the afternoon, a peacekeeper whose nationality was not identified had been detained by the Israeli Army, although it added that he was released less than an hour later after efforts made by the UN mission commander, Italian General Diodato Abagnar, through his liaison with the Israeli military command. “Any detention of a member of the UN peacekeeping mission is a flagrant violation of international law, and any interference in their work is a breach of United Nations resolution 1701,” warned Unifil. The Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, revealed a day later that it was a Spanish soldier and that the detention lasted just under an hour, but that there were violent behaviors.
The detention of a UN soldier, an almost unprecedented event, occurred after, at the end of last month, three Indonesian soldiers from the Unifil brigade under Spanish command were killed in two separate attacks in Lebanon.
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The complaint from the party led by lawyer Luis Pardo, filed on April 10, exposed a “primary criminal responsibility” in the soldiers who materially carried out the kidnapping, but a higher “or command” responsibility for which action could be taken against Netanyahu. “The superior’s responsibility is activated when he ‘knew or, given the circumstances at the time, should have known’ that his forces were committing or intended to commit those crimes,” states Iustitia Europa. “Given the recurring tension in the area and the existing engagement protocols, it is inconceivable that the military and political leadership was not aware of the risk of this type of incident and the need to give clear orders to protect UN personnel,” it adds.
The requests to the judge to begin these proceedings include a request to Interpol and Europol to identify the Israeli personnel operating in the Taybeh area (Lebanon); to summon the Armed Forces Intelligence Center (CIFAS) and the National Intelligence Center (CNI) to provide “any reports, intercepted communications or other intelligence information in their possession” on this matter; the testimony as a witness of the Spanish Defense Minister; and the testimony of the Spanish soldier victim of the kidnapping, “with prior guarantee of his protection and security.” Additionally, a request is made to the State of Israel to report if there is any case there regarding these facts.
All these proceedings depend on knowing the Prosecutor’s Office’s opinion on whether to initiate the procedure or not. The National Court is precisely the body responsible for investigating all matters that have foreign ramifications, as well as crimes committed by Spaniards or against them outside Spanish territory.