IDF soldier told to flee Sri Lanka after anti-Israel group seeks his arrest
Hind Rajab Foundation files complaint against Gal Ferenbook to Sri Lankan government, ICC and Interpol alleging he killed Gazan after he posted video online showing dead body
An Israeli soldier visiting Sri Lanka was reportedly cautioned to flee the country on Wednesday after he was identified by a pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel organization which alleged that he was responsible for the death of a Palestinian civilian in Gaza.
According to a report on Channel 12, the Hind Rajab Foundation, a Belgium-based organization, posted a picture of the soldier, Gal Ferenbook, and said that it had appealed to Sri Lankan authorities, the International Criminal Court, and Interpol, demanding his arrest over the killing of a civilian in Gaza.
According to the organization, Ferenbook posted a video on his Instagram account on August 9 showing what he claimed was a dead Palestinian civilian.
In the video, Ferenbook laughed as another soldier calls him “the Terminator.”
Channel 12 reported that Ferenbook then received an urgent call from Israeli authorities telling him to leave Sri Lanka immediately to avoid possible arrest.
Responding to the report, the military said: “The IDF does everything it can and uses all available means to protect its service members at home and abroad.”
Today, the #HindRajabFoundation has formally sent the ICC complaint against Gal Ferenbook to the governments of #SouthAfrica, #Ireland, and #Spain, urging them to issue arrest warrants and request Interpol Red Notices should he leave #SriLanka freely. Gal Ferenbook, a soldier… pic.twitter.com/j8WoArM4Mv
— The Hind Rajab Foundation (@HindRFoundation) December 18, 2024
However, the military refused to indicate whether Ferenbook would face disciplinary or criminal proceedings upon returning to Israel.
The report added that this is not the first instance of IDF soldiers being told to leave a country they were visiting for fear of arrest, including one such incident in Cyprus last month.
Earlier this month, the IDF reportedly warned dozens of soldiers against traveling abroad, after some 30 soldiers who fought in Gaza had war crimes complaints filed against them.
In eight cases, soldiers who did travel abroad were immediately told to return over fears they would be arrested or questioned by the country they were visiting, the Ynet news site reported. The soldiers were visiting Cyprus, Slovenia, and the Netherlands.
The IDF does not bar soldiers from traveling abroad, but it does conduct a “risk assessment” for troops who served in Gaza before approving their request, the report said.
IDF reservists who fought in Gaza are being advised to first check with the Foreign Ministry regarding the level of danger in any country they wish to visit.
Officials are concerned that aside from local legal actions, some senior officers could face prosecution at the International Criminal Court, which last month issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes.
IDF sources told Ynet that there was a concern that individual processes against lower-ranking soldiers and officers traveling abroad could be based on the ruling of the Hague court and on evidence gathered from social media or media reports.
Soldiers have been identified from videos and images they posted online that were taken during their service in Gaza, even though from the start of the ground operation in the Strip, the IDF instructed troops not to publish such images amid concerns the material could be used against them in war crimes proceedings.
Anti-Israel activists are carefully monitoring the social media accounts of soldiers who have posted such material in case they also publish images from trips abroad, at which point the activists plan to file local charges against them, Ynet reported.
Soldiers who are planning to travel abroad are being advised to not post any images that give away their location.
Israel will give full support via its local diplomatic offices to any soldier who is arrested or detained for questioning, or who feels threatened by activists while abroad, IDF sources said.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a massive cross-border attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw 251 taken as hostages to Gaza.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 45,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters.
Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7. Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
