Hind Rajab<\/a>, a five-year-old girl killed alongside her relatives when Israeli forces fired on their vehicle in Gaza City in January 2024.<\/p>\nBy transforming self-published digital content into evidence for criminal complaints, the foundation is testing whether legal systems in other countries may be used to hold Israeli soldiers accountable for alleged crimes.<\/p>\n
Natacha Bracq, head of litigation at the foundation, explained the urgency of the UK filing to Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the authorities let him leave, he [Dafna] will go back and commit more crimes. When a state waves a suspect through its airport, knowing what is documented, it is breaching its obligations to prevent and punish genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Counter Terrorism Policing spokesperson told Al Jazeera that its war crimes team has received 250 referrals \u201crelating to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict since 7 October, 2023\u201d.<\/p>\n
They would not comment on specific cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this time, there is no UK-based investigation into any matters relating to this particular conflict,\u201d they said. \u201cIn addition, and as part of the UK\u2019s international obligations, information provided to CTP relating to alleged war crimes or crimes against humanity may also be passed to the International Criminal Court (ICC), where relevant and appropriate in order to aid any of their ongoing investigations. A small number of referrals received by CTP since 7 October, 2023, relating to the Israel-Hamas conflict have been passed across to the ICC.\u201d<\/p>\n
For the families of victims in Gaza, the pursuit of justice through international channels is a response to the failure of internal Israeli accountability mechanisms.<\/p>\n
Speaking from Gaza, the 45-year-old grandmother and namesake of Hind dismissed internal Israeli military investigations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe occupation [Israel] claims that it opens criminal justice or an investigation for their soldiers, [but] we are certainly not very interested in this topic,\u201d she stated. \u201cThey just justify their positions to the world, \u2026 but actually on the ground, I don\u2019t think anything happens.\u201d<\/p>\n
The foundation\u2019s broader goal resonates deeply with families seeking justice for children killed during the war.<\/p>\n
\u201cHind is not the first child in Gaza. Hind means surely there are many crimes like hers and more,\u201d her grandmother added. \u201cWe support anyone who speaks in the name of childhood [and always supports] the Palestinian child.\u201d<\/p>\n
Turning social media posts into evidence<\/p>\n
The Hind Rajab Foundation\u2019s methodology relies heavily on material published by Israeli soldiers themselves.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur starting point is simple: Israeli soldiers documented their own crimes. They\u2019ve posted tens of thousands of photos and videos from Gaza and Lebanon on TikTok, Instagram, X and Telegram, often with their faces and names attached,\u201d Bracq said.<\/p>\n
This digital footprint requires rigorous processing to become potentially admissible in legal cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur collection and analysis follow the Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations. Then the real work starts: verification. We geolocate every frame against satellite imagery, matching buildings, roads, water towers, destruction patterns,\u201d Bracq said, noting that investigators then cross-reference military sources to tie a suspect to a documented act.<\/p>\n
The Berkeley Protocol, developed by the Human Rights Center\u00a0 at the University of California in Berkeley and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, sets out standards for collecting, verifying, analysing and preserving digital material.<\/p>\n
Khaled al-Shouli, an international lawyer registered with the Jordanian Bar Association who represents Palestinian victims before the International Criminal Court (ICC), said social media material could be valuable evidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cIts value does not decrease simply because it is a post on the internet, nor does it become decisive simply because it has spread,\u201d al-Shouli said.<\/p>\n
He stressed, however, that answering fundamental questions about the source, time and place is essential.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe crucial difference is the transition from proving the occurrence of the crime to proving the responsibility of a specific person for it as the appearance of a soldier in a place does not alone prove his commission of the crime,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Legal action across borders<\/p>\n
The foundation\u2019s complaints have prompted authorities in several countries to question Israeli military personnel.<\/p>\n
Bracq pointed to a significant breakthrough in Belgium, where a complaint filed by the foundation led federal police to detain and question two Israeli soldiers. Both were subsequently released.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat arrest matters beyond the two individuals involved. It demonstrated that universal jurisdiction is not a theoretical instrument but one that puts suspects in a police station within hours, and the Belgian federal prosecutor has since referred the case onward to the International Criminal Court,\u201d she stated.<\/p>\n
Similar actions have disrupted travel for an Israeli in North America. In Canada, former combat soldier Guy Hochman was detained and interrogated for six hours at Toronto Pearson Airport after a complaint was filed accusing him of war crimes and incitement to genocide. He later said his Canadian visa had been revoked.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are ruptures in a system of impunity: the moment Israelis calculate that travelling abroad carries a real legal risk,\u201d Bracq emphasised.<\/p>\n
Al-Shouli clarified the legal architecture supporting these moves, distinguishing between national courts and the ICC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Palestinian case relies on a set of matters that fall under the category of territorial jurisdiction over crimes committed in the Palestinian territories and not on absolute universal jurisdiction,\u201d he noted. \u201cThis distinction is important because the multiplicity of paths expands the opportunities for accountability and does not leave it hostage to one institution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Limits of legal action<\/p>\n
A Hind Rajab Foundation complaint in Brazil highlighted both the potential and the limitations of filing cases against Israelis in the courts of other countries.<\/p>\n
In January 2025<\/a>, Brazilian authorities issued an urgent order to arrest and investigate an Israeli soldier accused of planting explosives and systematically demolishing entire civilian neighbourhoods in Gaza.<\/p>\nWhile the case attracted international attention, al-Shouli cautioned against overstating its significance. Although a Brazilian judge ordered an investigation after the foundation\u2019s complaint, the Israeli soldier left the country with the assistance of Israeli authorities before he could be detained or questioned.<\/p>\n
The case, he explained, highlighted \u201cthe gap between opening an investigation and the ability to secure the suspect\u2019s attendance to the justice of the court in practice\u201d.<\/p>\n
Political climates heavily influence these legal instruments. Bracq acknowledged that \u201cpolitical will does determine whether a warrant is executed\u201d but countered that \u201cinternational crimes carry no statute of limitations.\u201d She noted that relentless documentation ensures \u201cno future window of opportunity finds the evidence missing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Al-Shouli viewed government transitions pragmatically. \u201cChanging governments opens practical windows for accountability through improving judicial cooperation,\u201d he noted. \u201cBut we prefer to describe them as windows to activate the law, not as loopholes in it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Expanding the targets<\/p>\n
The foundation is actively expanding its legal efforts beyond individual soldiers to companies and individuals involved in supplying weapons to Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur focus has already expanded well beyond front-line soldiers because the strategy must evolve with the genocide itself and with our evidence,\u201d Bracq stated. \u201cWe now target the suppliers of the tools of the crime, including companies involved in producing weapons for Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n
She cited a recent criminal complaint in Poland against a state-owned TNT producer. \u201cNo one gets impunity, from the trigger-puller to the decision-maker to the supplier,\u201d she declared.<\/p>\n
For the legal teams, managing the expectations of devastated families remains paramount.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy professional responsibility begins with not selling false hopes and fake hopes to the victims. It is not permissible for me to tell a family that lost its children that depositing a file has restored its right,\u201d al-Shouli stated. \u201cWhat we ask for is not sympathy alone but rights that can be proven, claimed and accounted for, and justice will be done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cUniversal jurisdiction is our instrument, not our objective. Our objective is justice and accountability,\u201d Bracq concluded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe generation that posted their own atrocities online now has to live with the knowledge that those posts are forever evidence and that a complaint may be waiting in the next country whose border they cross.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hind Rajab Foundation has filed a criminal complaint in the United Kingdom against Lidor Dafna, an Israeli…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":817426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[32539,591,59,57,58,937,9084,590,632,50,9086,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-817425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-crimes-against-humanity","tag-europe","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-human-rights","tag-israel","tag-israel-palestine-conflict","tag-middle-east","tag-news","tag-palestine","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}