Via JTA (Cnaan Liphshiz):
The Committee for Solidarity with the Arab Cause, which receives funding from several municipalities in Spain, filed the criminal lawsuit against Angel Mas of the ACOM group last month, he told JTA. A judge examined the 70-page lawsuit against Mas and ACOM and concluded it merited further judicial review, Mas said.
It marks the first time that pro-Israel entities are being taken to court in Spain for their activities and a departure from the strategy of the local Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against Israel, or BDS.
Mas added he was “surprised and disappointed” by the judge’s decision to review what Mas called “a frivolous attempt to abuse the Spanish judiciary with propaganda.” But he added that he was confident that he would be found not guilty in any trial.
At least seven municipalities in Spain have scrapped their endorsements of BDS under threat from ACOM alone, the group said. Another 14 have seen tribunals cancel their pro-BDS resolutions and another two had those resolutions suspended by an injunction pending a final court ruling.
“Having suffered crippling losses in court, the BDS movement in Spain is switching methods,” Mas said. “They are targeting individuals in a smear campaign in an attempt to render Spanish Jews and Israel defenseless. This will not succeed.”
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One wonders how many war crimes complaints have been filed in Belgium and in Switzerland and in other European countries against Arab countries?
Via The Times of Israel:
Switzerland’s attorney general’s office on Wednesday said the country is weighing whether to pursue a war crimes complaint filed against former minister Tzipi Livni over her role in the 2008-2009 Gaza war.
“[The legal] request is presently being studied,” the attorney general’s office told Swiss news site Swissinfo.
Quoting the French-language Swiss daily Le Temps, Swissinfo said that the suit was filed Monday by the pro-Palestinian Swiss organization Urgence against Livni, who served as foreign minister during the three-week long conflict between Israel and the Hamas terror group, a war known in Israel as Operation Cast Lead.
The complaint against Livni was submitted after she visited the Swiss city of Lugano on Sunday to speak at an event arranged by the Swiss-Israel Association.
Swiss NGO Trial International hailed Urgence’s decision to file the complaint, saying it would enable Swiss authorities to take legal action against Livni if she returns to the country.
“Switzerland has an obligation to work on cases of alleged war crimes if the suspect steps on Swiss territory. If Switzerland opens an investigation, it is in line with Swiss law, especially given the alleged crimes committed during Operation Cast Lead,” a representative for the group told Swissinfo.
Livni has been the target of groups attempting to bring war crimes charges against Israeli leaders over Operation Cast Lead in a number of European countries.
In January, Livni canceled a trip to Brussels when Belgian prosecutors planned to question her over allegations of war crimes.
“We wanted to take advantage of her visit to try to advance the investigation,” a spokesman for Belgium’s federal prosecutor Thierry Werts said.
