Israeli officers face arrest in SA

SOUTH Africa has pledged to enforce Turkey’s issuing of arrest warrants against four Israeli commanders from the Israeli Navy and others of the Israel Defence Forces.

In a move that sets an important international legal precedent, Turkey is seeking the arrest of the Israeli commanders for their involvement in the 2010 Israeli attacks on the Mavi Marmara aid ship which led to the death of nine humanitarian activists. Turkey has welcomed South Africa’s decision.

“The SA Police Service has sent a clear message to Israel that it can no longer continue carrying out war crimes with impunity, and South Africa will protect the rights of its citizens,” South African attorney on record Ziyaad Patel said from Turkey.

The SAPS has confirmed in writing that it will enforce the warrants of arrest if the following Israeli military chiefs enter South African territory: Chief of General Staff Rau Ashkenazi, Naval Forces Commander Eliezer Marom, the head of Air Force Intelligence, Brigadier-General Avishay Levi, and Major-General Amos Yadlin, the chief of military intelligence.

An arrest alert notice for the four was circulated to the South African Border Control system on September 3, and the information has been forwarded to Interpol South Africa to liaise with Interpol in Turkey for a red notice to be issued. Following the arrest of any of the four charged with war crimes, South Africa would grant Turkey extradition.

The arrest warrants have struck at the heart of the IDF, and sent shock waves through the Israeli political establishment. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instructed his diplomacy department to get to work on getting the warrants dismissed.

South Africa’s decision will reverberate across Europe, where citizens of the UK, Spain, Greece, and Sweden were also victims of the attack on the Mavi Marmara. “South Africa’s decision will have a major impact internationally as there were over 700 victims in the Israeli attack on the aid flotilla,” Patel said.

Flotilla

South African journalist Gadija Davids was on board the Mavi Marmara with a group of journalists when it was attacked in 2010.

The vessel was part of the first aid flotilla destined for Gaza, which sought to break the siege on the coastal strip by delivering much-needed humanitarian aid and medical supplies. At the time the Israelis were restricting aid coming into Gaza.

Davids recalled the horror of the attack. She told how she and the other surviving journalists were forced into a van afterwards and taken against their will to Ashdod, where they spent nearly two days in an Israeli prison. She and the others were harshly interrogated by their captors, and denied consular access.

Davids laid her first complaint with the SAPS and NPA in January 2011. In November 2012 the NPA found that in terms of South Africa’s ratification of the Rome Statute, the case met the necessary jurisdictional requirements, and that reasonable grounds existed to investigate the alleged crimes that were committed during the Israeli attack on the ship.

Independent Media contacted Israeli ambassador Arthur Lenk on Wednesday for comment on the issue of South Africa’s willingness to enforce the Turkish warrants of arrest.

Lenk initially said that the “enemies of Israel” like the Media Review Network and Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions South Africa were lying to the media, and there was no such letter from the SAPS stating that South Africa would enforce the Turkish arrest warrants.

When Independent Media confirmed that it had sight of the letter and also confirmation from the SAPS that South Africa would enforce the arrest warrants, Lenk said: “I have much respect for South Africa’s legal system and full confidence that it will not allow its system to be abused or politicised.”

Israel considers international legal proceedings one of its greatest threats.

The Media Review Network has welcomed the decision to enforce the warrants of arrest as it believes Israel must be held accountable.