From the Liveblog of
Monday, November 25, 2024
AG decides not to open criminal probes into senior officials for incitement against Gazans
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara decides not to open criminal investigations into whether comments by senior Israeli officials in the wake of the October 7 Hamas massacres and atrocities could be considered incitement to violence or even genocide against Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
The announcement of the attorney general’s decision is made in her office’s response to a High Court petition filed by the Israel Democracy Guard organization in August, which requested that her office open criminal investigations into some of the highly inflammatory comments made by cabinet ministers and MKs, ostensibly endorsing indiscriminate attacks on Gaza.
Among the comments highlighted by the petition are Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu’s remark in November 2023 that the war in Gaza could be ended by dropping an atomic bomb on the territory, and Likud MK Galit Distel-Atbaryan’s call to “wipe Gaza off the face of the earth.”
On January 9, three days before the first hearing for South Africa’s suit in the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide, the Attorney General’s Office said that law enforcement agencies had opened “examinations” into several of the problematic comments made by Israeli officials.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, however, a decision not to open criminal investigations was made on November 18.
One of the key provisional measures issued by the ICJ in its orders to Israel on January 26 was to “take all measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide” against the Palestinians.
