Hague throws out dumb lawsuit against IDF leaders. It's almost a shame, because the "victims" were terrorists and human shields.

From Al Jazeera:

Israeli Defence Minster Benny Gantz and another former senior military officer cannot be held liable in a case brought by a Palestinian Dutch man who lost six relatives in a 2014 air attack in Gaza, a Dutch appeals court ruled.

Ismail Ziada’s mother, three brothers, a sister-in-law, a young nephew and a friend were killed in the attack during Israel’s 2014 offensive targeting Gaza.

Universal jurisdiction allows countries to prosecute serious offences such as war crimes and torture regardless of where they were committed.

Ziada’s case was thrown out by a lower Dutch court in January 2020, which ruled that the principles of universal jurisdiction could be applied for individual criminal responsibility, but not in civil cases.

The case against Gantz and former air force commander Amir Eshel could not proceed because the men have “functional immunity from jurisdiction”, The Hague District Court ruled at the time.

The Hague Court of Appeal said on Tuesday the lower court was right to rule that Gantz – who was a senior military officer at the time of the attack – and Eshel had immunity because they were carrying out Israeli government policies.

“Dutch courts are not competent here to judge the claim. The [lower] court rightly decided that,” The Hague Court of Appeal said.

“High-ranking military personnel have carried out official policy of the state of Israel, which renders a judgement on their actions moribund.”

The court added it was “not blind to the plaintiff’s suffering”.

Mondoweiss is whining about "justice denied" and adds the delicious detail that Ziada has to pay 3,837 Euros to the court, and to Benny Gantz and Amir Eshel’s lawyers (US $ 4,300), a sum to be increased by 85 Euros if payment is not made within fourteen days.

What Al Jazeera and Mondoweiss are pointedly not reporting is that the Ziada house was a valid military target, and that the adults had knowingly put their family in danger by making them human shields for Hamas.

Here is his brother Omar, member of the Qassam Brigades.

And here's Omar with younger members of the family, teaching the family traditions.

In the memorial for the victims, Hamas' Al Qassam Brigades singled out four Ziada family members as its members - including 12 year old Sha'ban, who appears to be one of the kids in the photo above:

Another person was in their home and using the family as human shields. His name was Mohammed Mahmoud al-Maqadma:

The IDF Military Advocate General summarized the reason the house was targeted:

… on 20 July 2014, the IDF carried out an aerial strike on a structure that was being used as an active command and control center by the Hamas terror organization. The attack aimed to neutralize both the command and control center and the military operatives who were manning it, and who, according to information received in real-time, were involved in terror activity which threatened IDF forces operating in the area. It was further indicated, that the structure was also utilized by the military operative Mohammed Muqadama, a senior figure in Hamas’ military observation force. Findings indicated that among the casualties were three military operatives in the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organizations, who were members of the Ziyadeh family, as well as the senior military operative mentioned above, Mohammed Muqadama.

Much more can be found here. 

It is almost a shame that the case didn't go to trial, because the world doesn't understand the depravity of Hamas to routinely use women and children as human shields, deliberately placing command and control units in the houses of large families.

---

---