This is a first in Europe: two soldiers of the Israeli army, present in Belgium to attend the 2025 edition of the Tomorrowland Music Festival, in Boom, were arrested on Sunday July 20 and interviewed by the Belgian federal police with regard to their possible involvement in war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip, before being released. They were recognized in the crowd after wearing a flag of the Givati brigade, an infantry unit of the Israeli army.
This survey comes following the filing of two complaints, last Friday and Saturday, from Hind Rajab (HRF) and the Global Legal Network (GLAN, International Network of lawyers specializing in human rights violations), “Serious violations of international humanitarian law which would have been committed in the Gaza Strip by two members of the Israeli army”said the Belgian public prosecutor’s office on Monday July 21.
Universal competence
According to Glan, which has viewed content posted by those concerned on their respective social networks, are in question of voluntary attacks against civil zones, homes and hospitals, the use of torture and human shields, and massive arbitrary detentions and forced displacements of civilians.
It is the first time that a European country has recognized universal competence with regard to war crimes committed by Israeli soldiers. The suspects are not Belgian and the facts took place abroad. The prosecutor’s office was based on the new article 14/10 of the preliminary title of the Belgian Criminal Code of Criminal Procedure, which entered into force in April 2024, under which the Belgian jurisdictions are attributed to the crimes committed outside Belgium on the basis of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Convention against the 1984. For the time being, the investigation is undergoing its course.
25 States call for “immediately ceasing” the massacre in Gaza
“We will continue to support the current procedure and call on the Belgian authorities to continue the investigation in a complete and independent manner. Justice should not stop there – and we are determined to go to the end ”reacted the HRF and GLAN in a joint press release. They add that “A time when far too many governments remain silent, this action sends a clear message: credible evidence of international crimes must be the subject of a legal response, and not a political indifference”. It is true that the numerous European convictions for several months against the genocide at work in the Gaza Strip are all swords in the water, as they have been free from sanctions against Israel.
This Monday, twenty-five states, including Belgium, France, Canada and Spain, adopted a joint declaration calling for « stop immediately » The massacre in the Palestinian enclave. “The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new heightsadd his signatories. The aid distribution model put in place by the Israeli government is dangerous, feeds instability and deprives the Gazaouis of their human dignity ”. It was high time that these facts were clearly recognized, and this by many countries. When will acts?
Emergency for humanity
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