Israel Matzav

EU lawyers draw up arrest lists of IDF officers

If you're an IDF officer, please think twice about traveling anywhere in Europe. If you do travel to Europe, there may be a lawyer waiting with an arrest warrant for you.

Lawyers in Britain and other European countries have been collecting testimonies of Palestinians and other data from Gaza since January, which they maintain proves that war crimes were committed by the IDF during the offensive. The evidence is linked to IDF officers holding ranks of battalion commander and higher, who were in command during various stages of Cast Lead.

The other nations who have lawyers collecting information on the matter include the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Norway, whose laws, as well as Britain's, allow the issuance of arrest warrants against foreign citizens suspected of war crimes.

Attorney Daniel Makover [pictured. CiJ] from London is coordinating the efforts in Britain. One of his colleagues visited the Gaza Strip several weeks after the fighting in order to collect testimonies. Palestinians civilians also gave the legal assistant their approval, and asked that he file the suits in their name, in line with British law.

Speaking to Haaretz, Makover refused to offer details on the identity of the IDF officers or how many were listed, but said that much depends on the specific details of each case. Makover said that anyone who was involved in an incident may face criminal charges. The attorney added that there are officers who are obviously candidates for charges, and others who are less obvious, but emphasized that it depends on the facts collected on the ground.

Makover said that the Goldstone report on the fighting in the Gaza Strip will bolster the efforts of the activists, and said that some of the instances mentioned in the report were already known to the attorneys. Makover is part of an unofficial network of attorneys operating in various countries in Europe, exchanging and sharing information so that suspected officers may be arrested in those countries.

I had trouble finding details about 'Makover' is that his name is actually spelled Machover. Here's a Wikipedia biography.

Daniel Machover is a British lawyer. He is the head of civil litigation for Hickman & Rose Solicitors and was the co-founder of Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights in 1988. His father, Professor Moshé Machover, was one of the founders of the Israeli socialist group Matzpen.

According to an interview in The Independent, "Close observations of his parents' treatment at the hands of the Israeli authorities - including the strip-searching of his mother - heightened Machover's awareness of the potential for those in uniform to abuse their powers". [1].

Let's say I have my doubts that his mother was strip-searched without cause. Here are some more details about this former Israeli:

Daniel Machover, a London lawyer, is (2005) a spokesman and founder-member of Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights. He works in Hickman & Rose, a solicitors’ firm in Islington where he works as a partner, handling judicial review work and actions against the Home Office for assaults on prisoners and deaths in custody.

Machover's parents (his father is Moshe Machover) were Sabras, born in Palestine to a family of Zionists on both sides of his parents’ marriage. His Polish grandmother had arrived in the 1920s and then established several kibbutzes. After the 1967 war, his parents were among a group of Israeli Jews who opposed Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. They put their names to an advertisement in an Israeli newspaper, along with many others who felt the same, urging the State of Israel to withdraw behind the 1967 borders. The family received death threats and the atmosphere became unpleasant. Finally, the family left for the United Kingdom. They had intended to return – but ended up staying in the UK.

His law firm biography is here.

Machover was also behind the 2005 attempt to arrest IDF general Doron Almog when Almog did not deplane from an El Al flight to London.

The real question is why this guy has not gotten Mordechai Vanunu treatment. He's an Israeli citizen and treason is still a crime in Israel. Where is Cheryl Bentov when we need her?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:02 PM