Update. Israeli intelligence spirited the soldier out of Brazil to avoid prosecution.
Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – According to Junio Silva at the Brazilian newspaper Metrópoles , on December 31, Federal Judge Raquel Soares Charelli directed the Federal Police to open an immediate investigation into an Israeli soldier vacationing in Brazil who is alleged to have perpetrated war crimes in Gaza.
The court was petitioned by the Hind Rajab Foundation, an organization based in Belgium and operating globally to expose crimes against humanity, war crimes, and human rights violations in Palestine. The foundation and other sources provided 500 pages of legal documentation connected to the case, gathered through open-source investigation. A lot of Israeli soldiers have posted videos to Telegram and other outlets boasting of their atrocities, which allow organizations like the Hind Rajab Foundation to build a case.
The foundation’s petition included a plea for the detention of the Israeli national lest he flee the country.
Junio writes that the accused Israeli national is alleged to have participated in demolishing a residential complex in the Gaza Strip with explosives in November 2024. This act reportedly occurred outside an active combat zone. The demolished homes had served as refuge for internally displaced Palestinians within the enclave following the onset of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Junio quotes the Hind Rajab Foundation’s attorney, Maira Pinheiro, who clarified that the decision leverages the Rome Statute, a treaty that Brazil ratified. The Rome Statute established the International Criminal Court (ICC) and has been in effect since 2002.
Pinheiro said, “Since Brazil is a signatory to the Rome Statute [Como o Brasil é signatário do Estatuto de Roma], universal jurisdiction also applies within Brazilian territory [vale também em território brasileiro a jurisdição universal]. This means any member state must act to ensure crimes outlined in the Statute – war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide – are investigated and prosecuted. Based on the extraterritoriality principle in Article 7 of the Brazilian Penal Code, Brazil has jurisdiction to investigate criminal offenses committed abroad when they arise from international treaties and the perpetrator enters Brazilian territory.”
Rio de Janeiro, 2009. © Juan Cole.
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Camila França at Brasil 247 notes, “The decision is considered a landmark in the application of international law within national territory.”
She notes that a similar case is unfolding in Chile, where 620 attorneys have filed a case against a member of Israel’s 749th Combat Engineering Battalion who was vacationing in Chilean Patagonia. Lawyer and former ambassador Nelson Hadad in Santiago also called for the immediate arrest of that individual. She writes that the complaint is supported by Chilean Senator Francisco Chahuan, who said that the Public Prosecutor’s office was in receipt of mounds of evidence, including videos and photos from the accused’s Instagram account, which allegedly depict his involvement in the destruction of neighborhoods, civilian infrastructure, and cultural sites in Gaza. She notes that Senator Chahuan alleges that these actions violated the Geneva Conventions and constitute war crimes and genocide.
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