Brussels – Belgian Courts Pursuing Legal Action Against Hamas On Behalf of Citizens

Brussels – Two years after a group of Belgian nationals who live in Ashdod filed a complaint in Belgian court against ten Hamas leaders for infractions of international humanitarian law, Belgian prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation against the Hamas military and political leaders named in the case.

Ezriel Weisman, Samuel Friedman, Aron Weingarten and Moshe Weisman, all residents of Ashdod, say they were injured by the rocket and mortar attacks launched against Southern Israel during a seven month period from June 2008 through January 2009, forced to flee their homes and that their family members suffered psychological trauma. The complaint cites both the Goldstone Report, prepared by the United Nations Human Rights Commission and Amnesty International, which confirm that by indiscriminately launching rocket and mortar attacks in Southern Israel without distinguishing between military and civilian targets, Hamas is guilty of committing war crimes Named in the complaint are Hamas leaders Ahmed Jabari, Mohammad Def, Nizar Audala, Maruwan Issa, Khaled Mashal, Mousa Abu Marzook, Mohammed Nasr, Mahmoud Al-Zahar, Ayman Taha and Ismail Haniya.

All four plaintiffs were called to testify before the prosecutor in Brussels but due to financial constraints, only Aron Weingarten was able to make the trip to Belgium. Should the other three plaintiffs be unable to raise the needed funds to testify in Belgium, the entire case may be thrown out entirely.

Belgian law allows for foreigners who violate international humanitarian law abroad to be tried in Belgium if the victim is a Belgian national and should the ten Hamas members be found guilty, they would be arrested immediately if they ever tried to enter Brussels.

Aron Fink, a Canadian national who lives in Ashdod, explained to Israeli news site B’Chadrei Chareidim why he hopes to file a similar suit with the Canadian government.

“As soon as we hear a loud noise we are down in the basement shelter within seconds,” said Fink. “This is not a normal way to live your life and it causes many problems with work and other things. My wife is afraid to go to work or to go shopping because she is afraid of the situation. We want to make it more difficult for Hamas to travel to certain locations in the world so that they will feel the consequences of their attacks.”

Prominent International lawyer Mordechai Tzivin who represents the four men said that this action is significant because it involves Chareidi people, who are not even Zionists, fight the legal war against Hamas on behalf of Israel.

“Our goal is to stop abandoning the arena of international law to Palestinian organizations, which makes cynical use of interntaion law to harass Israeli army officers and political officials,” Tzivin told VIN News. “This complaint marks the first time a foreign country, especially a European country, has opened criminal proceedings against members of Hamas for war crimes. It’s time that Israeli citizens with dual citizenship use these laws to submit additional requests to arrest Hamas members.”

According to Tzivin there are complaints being submitted by both Russian and British citizens as well.