Battle of Waterloo
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On Israel's Election Day, Dutch Court to Hear War Crimes Case Against Benny Gantz
The suit seeks compensation for the deaths six members of Gazan-born Dutch citizen's family in Israel's 2014 war with Gaza
A Dutch court will consider on Tuesday a request to hear a civil suit seeking damages from former Israeli armed forces chief Benny Gantz, who is standing against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a parliamentary election.
The hearing on admissibility will be held in a Dutch district court as voting gets underway in Israel.
The case has been brought by a Dutch national of Palestinian descent using Dutch "universal jurisdiction" laws.
Ismail Ziada is seeking compensation of 600,000 euros (659,900 dollars) for the death of six family members - his mother, three brothers, sister-in-law and 12-year-old nephew - when the family's home in the al-Bureij refugee camp in Gaza was bombed in 2014.
Lawyers on behalf of Gantz and his co-defendant, former Israeli air force chief Amir Eshel, filed a motion to have the case dismissed, arguing that the Dutch courts do not have jurisdiction.
Under universal jurisdiction laws, war crimes committed abroad can be prosecuted by courts in the Netherlands if the victims of such crimes are Dutch citizens who are unable to access justice elsewhere.
Ziada's lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld said she would argue Israeli courts were not accessible to Palestinians.
"The Israeli judicial system is closed to Palestinians, especially for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip including my client who has also been deemed an enemy subject," she told Reuters.
Liesbeth Zegveld, Ziada's lawyer, dismissed defense attorney Dieben's claim of immunity, citing jurisprudence in past Dutch criminal cases that successfully applied universal jurisdiction in Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Suriname.
Judges then adjourned for deliberations and said a ruling on would be rendered on January 29, 2020.
https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/...war-crimes-case-against-benny-gantz-1.7855026
New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch said in 2014 that Israel was likely to have committed war crimes during the conflict.
"Israel has a long record of failing to undertake credible investigations into alleged war crimes," it said.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/eu...ath-war-crimes-trial-for-benny-gantz-1.911507
The suit seeks compensation for the deaths six members of Gazan-born Dutch citizen's family in Israel's 2014 war with Gaza
A Dutch court will consider on Tuesday a request to hear a civil suit seeking damages from former Israeli armed forces chief Benny Gantz, who is standing against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a parliamentary election.
The hearing on admissibility will be held in a Dutch district court as voting gets underway in Israel.
The case has been brought by a Dutch national of Palestinian descent using Dutch "universal jurisdiction" laws.
Ismail Ziada is seeking compensation of 600,000 euros (659,900 dollars) for the death of six family members - his mother, three brothers, sister-in-law and 12-year-old nephew - when the family's home in the al-Bureij refugee camp in Gaza was bombed in 2014.
Lawyers on behalf of Gantz and his co-defendant, former Israeli air force chief Amir Eshel, filed a motion to have the case dismissed, arguing that the Dutch courts do not have jurisdiction.
Under universal jurisdiction laws, war crimes committed abroad can be prosecuted by courts in the Netherlands if the victims of such crimes are Dutch citizens who are unable to access justice elsewhere.
Ziada's lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld said she would argue Israeli courts were not accessible to Palestinians.
"The Israeli judicial system is closed to Palestinians, especially for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip including my client who has also been deemed an enemy subject," she told Reuters.
Liesbeth Zegveld, Ziada's lawyer, dismissed defense attorney Dieben's claim of immunity, citing jurisprudence in past Dutch criminal cases that successfully applied universal jurisdiction in Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Suriname.
Judges then adjourned for deliberations and said a ruling on would be rendered on January 29, 2020.
https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/...war-crimes-case-against-benny-gantz-1.7855026
New York-based organisation Human Rights Watch said in 2014 that Israel was likely to have committed war crimes during the conflict.
"Israel has a long record of failing to undertake credible investigations into alleged war crimes," it said.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/eu...ath-war-crimes-trial-for-benny-gantz-1.911507
