The Legal Department of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine addressed a number of judicial detention cases that took place in several Western countries against Israeli soldiers, on charges of committing war crimes in the Gaza Strip—particularly in Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Cyprus, Austria, and Canada. It noted that what accompanied these detentions did not rise to the level of serious judicial procedures; rather, in many instances they appeared closer to show trials, which quickly ended without the filing of any formal indictments against the accused or the initiation of genuine trials.
The Legal Department explained that all lawsuits filed in more than twenty European and Western countries—despite the diversity of those states and their judicial systems, and despite the cases being supported by dozens of documented pieces of evidence—ended with the same outcome: the release of the accused without accountability. This constitutes a blatant disregard for acts that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, raising fundamental questions about the independence of the judiciary and those states’ commitment to international human rights standards.
The Department affirmed that the release of all the accused was not the result of independent legal procedures, but rather of direct political interventions and pressures. The detentions that did occur, despite their limited scope, were merely a token response to public pressure, which has intensified in many Western countries, demanding that governments—especially those that adopt the principle of universal jurisdiction—respect their legal and moral obligations in the field of human rights and take concrete steps to halt the genocidal war being waged against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.
The Legal Department of the Democratic Front further considered that the issue of prosecuting Israeli soldiers, in the manner in which it is currently unfolding, reveals a deep crisis in the international legal system, characterized by the selective application of the law based on the identity of the accused and their political affiliations, and by the erosion of the principle of universal jurisdiction, which is supposed to allow war criminals to be tried in any country, as has occurred in many cases in the past.
In the conclusion of its statement, the Legal Department of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine stressed that the law must not be held hostage to political interests, domestically or internationally. It affirmed that what has been exposed is the continued practice by many states of double standards: publicly proclaiming respect for human rights and justice, while covertly pursuing policies and procedures that fundamentally contradict these values and practically provide protection for perpetrators of crimes instead of holding them accountable. This, the statement concluded, requires all political and popular forces in Western countries to pressure their governments to adopt more balanced positions, especially on matters in which Israel is a party.