Advocates launch legal push for Argentina, Chile to arrest Israeli soldier

An advocacy group has initiated legal action in Argentina and Chile, urging the countries to arrest an Israeli soldier for war crimes in Gaza.

The cases filed in Argentina and Chile announced on Thursday cite both national and international legal obligations. They come among a wider effort by the Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation to pressure countries across the world to seek more comprehensive justice for abuses committed in the Palestinian enclave.

The cases target Israeli soldier Saar Hirshoren for what the Hind Rajab Foundation described as his role in the 749 Combat Engineering Battalion, which chair Dyab Abou Jahjah described as being “systematically involved in the destruction of civilian infrastructure” in Gaza.

The foundation has simultaneously filed a complaint against the entire battalion with the International Criminal Court (ICC) for “war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide”.

Local prosecutors working with the group filed the criminal complaint in Argentina on December 24 and Chile the next day, calling for Hirshoren’s arrest. The foundation said Hirshoren was initially in Argentina when the first case was filed, before leaving for Chile.

The prosecutors cited “video evidence from Hirshoren’s Instagram account, showing him actively participating in the destruction of civilian infrastructure in Gaza” as well as “his role in the deliberate demolition of neighbourhoods, cultural sites, and essential facilities” in violation of international law.

It was not immediately clear if Hirshoren holds dual nationality of any country beyond Israel and his most recent whereabouts remain unknown, Abou Jahjah told Al Jazeera.

“I appeal to Argentina and Chile to take their responsibility as democracies, states with the rule of law to arrest Mr Hirshoren,” he said.

Push for wider accountability

The latest legal actions come after Amnesty International earlier this month concluded that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. UN rights experts have reached similar determinations on the war, which began following an attack by Hamas on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Since then, 45,399 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and 107,940 have been wounded in Israeli operations, which have also destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure and brought a deadly humanitarian crisis.

The Hamas attack on Israel killed 1,139 people.

In November, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, citing “the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”.

Israel has rejected the warrants and has repeatedly maintained its actions in Gaza are in line with international law.

The ICC last month also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas military commander Mohammed Deif for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the October 7 attack on Israel. Israel has said Deif was killed in a July strike.

But the Hind Rajab Foundation, named after the 6-year-old killed in Israeli shelling as her family fled Gaza City earlier this year, and other advocacy groups have said accountability should extend beyond the Israeli leadership.

The foundation has launched legal actions against Israeli soldiers who are either citizens of – or temporary visitors to – Ecuador, the Netherlands, France, and Cyprus, among others.

The group has regularly focused on Israeli soldiers who have posted abuses on social media. For example, Hirshoren posted a video of himself remotely detonating seven buildings near the Mosab bin Omair mosque in north Nuseirat in October, according to an analysis of posts by Drop Site News.

Advocates argue that countries that are parties to international rights treaties – including the ICC’s founding document, the Rome Statute, as well as the Geneva Convention – have a responsibility to enforce international law.

In October, the group filed a complaint to the ICC naming 1,000 Israeli soldiers it accused of abuses, including 12 dual nationals from France, 12 from the United States, four from Canada, three from the United Kingdom, and two from The Netherlands.

Abou Jahjah said with the ICC taking long-delayed actions, his group hopes to correct a “deficiency” at the nation-state level.

It may be a long shot. None of the countries where the group has taken action have sought recourse against the identified soldiers. Neither Chile nor Argentina have responded to the latest appeal.

Still, Abou Jahjah said he hopes the message will resonate.

“You cannot let criminals come and vacation in your country as if there’s nothing happening,” Abou Jahjah said.

“You cannot just default your responsibilities to the conventions that you have signed,” he added, “and to the principles of justice that all of these states have embodied in their constitutions.”