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Dutch Supreme Court confirms immunity of former Israeli officers over a deadly 2014 Gaza airstrike

apnews.com

Dutch Supreme Court confirms immunity of former Israeli officers over a deadly 2014 Gaza airstrike
3 comments

  • This is kind of interesting but not surprising, jurisdictionally. Putting the politics of Israel/Palestine aside for a minute, you can see how it could open a can of worms to allow a foreign government (Israel) to be sued abroad (Netherlands). Presumably if you wanted to do that, you’d need to sue in the government’s jurisdiction (israel).

    Even if you won a case like this abroad (Netherlands), they would have no mechanism for enforcement, as they can’t force a foreign state (Israel) to abide by their laws.

  • This is the best summary I could come up with:

    THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Dutch Supreme Court on Friday upheld a ruling that a Palestinian man cannot sue Israel’s former defense minister and another former senior military officer over their roles in a deadly 2014 Gaza airstrike.

    His legal team argued that the men didn’t have immunity because their actions amounted to war crimes.

    Israel’s Justice Ministry told a lower Dutch court that an internal Israeli military investigation determined the airstrike had killed four militants hiding in the house.

    Gantz thanked his country’s justice and foreign ministries for leading “the push that led to the dismissal of the lawsuit against me and against the former Air Force Commander Major General (ret.)

    Gantz — who was military chief of staff at the time of the airstrike in Gaza — and Eshel had immunity because they were carrying out Israeli government policies, Dutch courts in The Hague ruled.

    Gantz welcomed the dismissal of the lawsuit, crediting what he described as Israel’s “strong and independent judicial system” that protects Israeli soldiers and commanders “even in front of international courts.”

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