1000’s of Western nationals joined the Israeli navy amid its genocidal warfare in Gaza, elevating questions over worldwide authorized accountability for overseas nationals implicated in alleged warfare crimes in opposition to Palestinians.
Greater than 50,000 troopers within the Israeli navy maintain no less than one different citizenship, with a majority of them holding US or European passports, info obtained by the Israeli NGO Hatzlacha by way of Israel’s Freedom of Data Regulation has revealed.
Really useful Tales
listing of 4 gadgetsfinish of listing
Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s genocidal warfare on Gaza has killed no less than 72,061 folks in navy actions which have been dubbed warfare crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity by rights teams.
Rights organisations all over the world have been making an attempt to determine and prosecute overseas nationals, a lot of whom have posted movies of their abuse on social media, for his or her involvement in warfare crimes, significantly in Gaza.
So, what does the primary such knowledge reveal in regards to the Israeli navy? And what could possibly be the authorized implications for dual-national troopers?
Which overseas nationals enlist most within the Israeli navy?
Not less than 12,135 troopers enlisted within the Israeli navy maintain United States passports, topping the listing by an enormous margin. That’s along with 1,207 troopers who possess one other passport along with their US and Israeli ones.
The info – shared with Al Jazeera by Israeli lawyer Elad Man, who serves because the authorized counsel for Hatzlacha – exhibits that 6,127 French nationals serve within the Israeli navy.
The Israeli navy, which shared such knowledge for the primary time, famous that troopers holding a number of citizenships are counted greater than as soon as within the breakdown.
The numbers present service members enlisted within the navy as of March 2025, 17 months into Israel’s devastating warfare in Gaza.
Russia stands at third, with 5,067 nationals serving within the Israeli navy, adopted by 3,901 Ukrainians and 1,668 Germans.
The info revealed that 1,686 troopers within the navy held twin British-Israeli citizenship, along with 383 different troopers who held one other passport along with their British and Israeli ones.
South Africa, which introduced a case of genocide in opposition to Israel on the Worldwide Court docket of Justice (ICJ), additionally had 589 of its residents serving within the Israeli navy ranks.
Moreover, 1,686 troopers maintain Brazilian citizenship, 609 Argentine, 505 Canadian, 112 Colombian, and 181 Mexican, along with their Israeli nationality.
Israel’s navy contains an estimated 169,000 energetic personnel and 465,000 reservists – of whom practically eight p.c maintain twin or a number of citizenships.
Can twin nationals be tried for warfare crimes in Gaza?
Ilias Bantekas, a professor of transnational legislation at Hamad Bin Khalifa College in Qatar, informed Al Jazeera that “warfare crimes incur prison legal responsibility below worldwide legislation, no matter what the legislation of nationality says”.
In any other case, Nazi Germans, whose legislation allowed and obliged them to commit atrocities, would incur no legal responsibility, Bantekas added. “Twin nationality is immaterial to prison legal responsibility,” he mentioned.
Nonetheless, the most important problem in prosecuting the accused “is getting [them] in your territory and placing them earlier than a courtroom”, he famous.
Bantekas additionally added that there isn’t a distinction within the query of legal responsibility between native troopers and people of twin nationalities.
Twin nationals, in reality, “might as well as be liable below legal guidelines that forestall navy service in overseas conflicts or becoming a member of armies of different nations”, the professor mentioned.
Prosecuting overseas nationals has been “just about the norm”, he famous.
“Consider Nazi Germans tried by Allied warfare crimes tribunals after World Struggle II, Japanese officers tried by US navy courts, and crimes dedicated throughout the Bosnian battle the place alleged offenders had been tried by numerous courts in Europe,” Bantekas informed Al Jazeera.
Final Could, the UK’s Overseas Workplace mentioned that allegations of warfare crimes ought to be submitted to the Metropolitan Police.
“The UK recognises the fitting of British twin nationals to serve within the legitimately recognised armed forces of the nation of their different nationality,” it mentioned. “Allegations of warfare crimes ought to be submitted to the Met Police for investigation.”
Have overseas nationals been tried for Gaza warfare crimes?
Nationals with twin or a number of citizenships haven’t but been arrested for committing warfare crimes in Gaza. However rights teams, together with legal professionals, try to get them prosecuted.
Within the UK final April, the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) and the UK-based Public Curiosity Regulation Centre (PILC) filed a 240-page report back to the Metropolitan Police.
Accusations in opposition to the ten British people, whose names haven’t been publicly disclosed, embrace homicide, forcible switch of individuals, and assaults on humanitarian personnel, between October 2023 and Could 2024.
In September final yr, a case was filed in Germany in opposition to a 25-year-old soldier, born and raised in Munich, for collaborating within the killing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, by PCHR, the European Heart for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Al-Haq, and the Al Mezan Heart for Human Rights.
The sniper, with shootings documented close to Gaza’s al-Quds and Nasser hospitals between November 2023 and March 2024, was a member of a unit often called “Refaim”, “ghost” in Hebrew.
Authorized proceedings in opposition to members of the identical unit are additionally below manner in France, Italy, South Africa, and Belgium.
The Belgian public prosecutor’s workplace additionally opened a judicial investigation final October right into a 21-year-old Belgian-Israeli citizen, a member of Refaim.
The obligatory navy service legislation in Israel exempts twin nationals residing overseas, making the enlistment a voluntary act, an necessary distinction when such crimes are tried in overseas courts. Legal professionals have reportedly famous that the voluntary nature of the troopers’ service makes them extra chargeable for alleged crimes.
What does worldwide legislation say about troopers in overseas wars?
South Africa introduced its case to the ICJ in December 2023, arguing that Israel’s warfare in Gaza violates the 1948 United Nations Conference on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Whereas a remaining ruling may take years, the ICJ issued provisional measures in January 2024 ordering Israel to take steps to forestall acts of genocide in Gaza and to permit unimpeded entry for humanitarian help. However Israel has continued curb the provision of help into Gaza in violation of the ICJ interim order.
Beneath the 1948 Genocide Conference, international locations which are get together to the treaty have a binding obligation to forestall and punish genocide. Nations can examine and prosecute people who might have dedicated or been complicit on this crime.
In March final yr, the Worldwide Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) introduced the “International 195” marketing campaign to carry Israeli and dual-national people accountable for warfare crimes and crimes in opposition to humanity in Gaza.
The coalition goals to work concurrently inside a number of jurisdictions to use for personal arrest warrants and provoke authorized proceedings in opposition to these implicated, together with the Israeli navy members and the complete Israeli navy and political command in its scope.
For international locations which are events to the Rome Statute of the Worldwide Felony Court docket (ICC), there’s a further layer, the place the ICC can assert its jurisdiction. Palestine has been a state get together since 2015.
The State of Palestine is recognised as a sovereign nation by 157 of the 193 UN member states, representing 81 p.c of the worldwide group. Most just lately, it has been recognised by France, Belgium, Canada, Australia, and the UK.
A overseas nationwide, whose nation considers Palestine a “pleasant state”, would even be weak to prosecution for collaborating within the Israeli navy’s warfare crimes in Gaza.
How is the Hind Rajab Basis monitoring alleged warfare criminals?
The Hind Rajab Basis – named to honour a five-year-old Palestinian woman whose killing by Israeli troopers on January 29, 2024 grew to become emblematic of Israel’s genocide in Gaza – has been amassing troves of knowledge with identifiable details about Israeli troopers.
The Belgium-based basis is the pressure behind a global effort for accountability over warfare crimes in Gaza – and has since filed a number of instances, together with a landmark problem focusing on 1,000 Israeli troopers.
The inspiration recognized quite a few people with twin citizenship, together with 12 from France, 12 from the US, 4 from Canada, three from the UK, and two from the Netherlands, within the criticism.
The inspiration has scoured TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, the place the Israeli troopers boast about atrocities in Gaza, to gather info on the troopers. It has been utilizing these items of proof to pursue the path of the accused for warfare crimes.
“We’re in possession of many extra profiles of twin nationals past the 1,000 troopers named in our criticism to the ICC. We can be pursuing authorized motion in opposition to all of them within the nationwide courts of their respective international locations,” the muse had mentioned in October 2024. “Impunity should finish, in all places.”
The Hind Rajab Basis says it pursues prison accountability for Israeli warfare criminals, from those that deliberate and ordered operations to those that executed them, together with overseas nationals who’ve participated in or financed these crimes.
Its founder, Dyab Abou Jahjah, was additionally threatened by Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Amichai Chikli, who informed him to “watch your pager” in a publish on X, an allusion to lethal assaults on Hezbollah members’ communication methods in September 2024. Not less than 12 folks had been killed and greater than 3,000 folks had been wounded when hundreds of pagers had been detonated by Israeli operatives throughout these assaults.
In January final yr, a criticism filed by the Hind Rajab Basis led to a Brazilian choose ordering an investigation into an Israeli soldier vacationing within the nation. The soldier needed to flee, prompting the Israeli navy to order all troops who participated in fight to hide their identities.
“Felony legal responsibility below worldwide legislation can’t be dissolved by time bars. It extends endlessly, and no statute of limitations is relevant,” mentioned Bantekas of Hamad Bin Khalifa College.
Nonetheless, prosecuting Israeli navy members “is virtually troublesome for 2 causes”, he mentioned, noting the issue of acquiring firsthand proof and the wariness of nationwide prosecutors who might worry political or different repercussions.
“If public opinion and political opinion in Europe shifts way more in favour of Palestine than it’s now, then nationwide prosecutions will really feel extra comfy to provoke prosecutions,” he informed Al Jazeera.
