Spanish war crimes investigation of Israel halted

A Spanish court has dropped its investigation of alleged Israeli war crimes. A bit of sanity is restored, and Israel will not have to open a probe into the Inquisition or Spanish war crimes in suppressing the legitimate right of resistance of the Basque people, or possible collaboration with Nazis of the Franco regime. Of course these would be absurd, but the Spanish investigation was absurd as well. It served its purpose nonetheless, which was to demonize Israel. Haaretz reports: The action in question killed the great humanitarian Salah Shehadeh, and unfortunately also killed some of his relatives and neighbors. The Spanish judge did not investigate whether or not the suicide bombings planned by Shehadeh were crimes against humanity.

Spain's National Court on Tuesday decided to shelve an investigation launched by one of its judges into a July 2002 air strike by the Israel Defense Forces on a Hamas target in the Gaza Strip, judicial sources said.

 

Leading Hamas militant Saleh Shehadeh was killed when the Israel Air Force dropped a one-ton bomb on his apartment building in Gaza. The explosion destroyed the building and killed 14 other people, most of them women and children. Spanish Judge Fernando Andreu had argued that it could constitute a crime against humanity.

 

The suspects named by Andreu included former defense minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer and six current or former IDF officers or security officials.
The case had created some diplomatic tension between Spain and Israel.

 

The court decision followed a preliminary approval by parliament of legislation limiting the right of Spanish judges to investigate alleged human rights violations abroad.

 

Last month, Spanish lawmakers almost unanimously passed a resolution which could end the right of Spanish judges to investigate serious crimes like genocide anywhere in the world in cases where courts in the affected country do not act.

 

Spain's Socialist government said earlier this year it would change the law after protests from Israel over the High Court's decision in January to launch a war crimes probe into the seven Israeli officials.

 

If translated into a law, the resolution would restrict Spain, which had been praised by international campaigners, to only investigating cases in which the accused is in Spain or Spaniards are victims.