Israel Rejects Belgian Court Ruling on Sharon
nytimes.com
JERUSALEM, Feb. 13 — Israeli officials reacted with outrage today to a decision by Belgium's highest court that Belgium could try Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for war crimes once he leaves office.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the foreign minister, lashed out at the ruling as "an affront to truth, justice and the right of the state of Israel to defend itself against terrorism."
"We in Israel and the Jewish people as a whole have had enough of blood libels on the soil of Europe, and we are going to fight this one with everything we have," he said.
Israel recalled its ambassador from Brussels, while Mr. Netanyahu summoned Belgium's ambassador to Israel to receive a protest. Israeli officials said that the Beligan ambassador replied that he was not authorized to speak about the matter.
Human rights groups were delighted by the Beligan court's decision. They hailed it as permitting victims of genocide and war crimes to pursue justice regardless of where the crimes took place. The Israeli case is one of many pending in Beligum that involve alleged violations of human rights.
Mr. Sharon and a senior official in the Defense Ministry, Amos Yaron, are being sued by survivors of a 1982 massacre of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon by Lebanese Christian militias, who were backed by Israeli forces. Mr. Sharon was Israel's defense minister at the time of the massacre in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps.
An Israeli commission later held Mr. Sharon indirectly responsible. He resigned his post but was not prosecuted.
In an interview, Mr. Netanyahu said that the court's ruling was a blow to the idea of international law, warning that American officials risked a similar fate over wars in Afghanistan or even Vietnam.
At issue is a 1993 Belgian law allowing the courts "universal jurisdiction" over crimes against humanity or war crimes. The court's ruling on Wednesday accorded serving high officials immunity, but implied that they could be pursued once they left office. The ruling overturned a lower court's decision last year that accused people had to be present in Belgium to be investigated.
Mr. Netanyahu connected the Belgian court decision to resistance by several European nations, including Belgium, to a possible American-led war against Iraq. He said that the stress of the campaign against terrorism was revealing weaknesses in European alliances first exposed by the end of the cold war.
"There is something deeply immoral and deeply distorted about what's happening in Belgium," he said.
Other Israeli officials were equally harsh. The justice minister, Meir Sheetrit, referred to Belgium as "this small and insignificant nation," wondering how it could present itself as "the judge for the whole world."
Israel's president, Moshe Katsav, dispatched a severe letter to King Albert II of Belgium. Mr. Sharon himself remained silent today about the matter.
Several Israeli officials said that Israel might work to block new Belgian efforts to increase American investment.
Blood libel??? |
