Hind Rajab Foundation appeals Spain’s dismissal of war crimes case against Israeli soldier

The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) has filed an appeal, challenging Spain’s decision to dismiss a criminal complaint filed by the pro-Palestinian advocacy group against an Israeli trooper over genocide and war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

The group commented on the appeal in a post on X on Sunday, identifying the trooper as Tameer (Tamer) Mulla, a former sergeant in the Israeli military’s 101st Paratrooper Battalion.

The complaint, originally submitted in Barcelona, had referred to Mulla’s deadly crimes committed during the regime’s October 2023-present war of genocide on the coastal sliver.

It had used extensive photographic and video evidence, including material self-published by the trooper himself, as evidence.

Represented by lawyer David Aranda Checa and procuradora Isabel Afonso Rodríguez, the HRF says the dismissal violates international law, the Spanish Constitution, and fundamental rights to access justice.

Spain, as a signatory to the Rome Statute that founded the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the Geneva Conventions, is obligated to either prosecute or extradite individuals over grave violations, the group reported.

With Mulla currently in Barcelona, it said, Spanish courts have universal jurisdiction to act.

The foundation stressed that national courts had to ensure justice at junctures where the ICC investigates only senior officials, leaving accountability for individuals to domestic jurisdictions.

The legal advocacy foundation was founded last year to combat Israeli impunity by pursuing legal accountability for war crimes and human rights violations across the Palestinian territories, with a particular focus on the Gaza Strip.

It is named after Hind Rajab, a five-year-old Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces during the genocide, along with six members of her family and two paramedics, who attempted to rescue her.

The victims are among the 67,100-plus Palestinians, mostly women and children, whom the genocide has killed.

In October last year, the HRF filed a complaint with the ICC, seeking arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former minister for military affairs Yoav Gallant, and the entire 749-strong troops of the Israeli military’s Combat Engineering Battalion over war crimes in Gaza.

According to the group’s lawyer, Haroon Raza, the body seeks to ensure all individuals directly or indirectly responsible for war crimes and genocide in the territory were prosecuted and imprisoned.

By March this year, the HRF had submitted the names of 1,000 Israeli forces to the ICC and had initiated legal cases in multiple countries, including Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Cyprus, France, Germany, Nepal, the Netherlands, Romania, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the UK.

On May 3, the HRF announced that it had identified the commander of the battalion responsible for the killing of Hind Rajab as Lieutenant Colonel Beni Aharon of the 401st Armored Brigade and filed a war crimes complaint against him at the ICC.

Responding to a separate case filed by South Africa, the ICC issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

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