Israeli soldier flees Brazil over risk of arrest abroad for alleged war crimes in Gaza

It’s not just Israel’s leaders who may need to be wary of traveling abroad. Now soldiers who have served in Gaza appear to be facing a growing risk of arrest themselves over allegations of war crimes in Israel’s assault on the besieged Palestinian enclave.

In a case that has sparked outcry in Israel and praise elsewhere, one soldier vacationing in Brazil fled the South American country earlier this month after a judge ordered federal police to pursue an investigation in response to a legal filing accusing the soldier of war crimes in Gaza.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement shared with NBC News on Monday that it had helped the former soldier leave Brazil on a commercial flight after what it described as “anti-Israel elements” requested an investigation last week.

“The Consular Section of the Foreign Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Brazil contacted the Israeli and his family, and accompanied him throughout the event until his swift and safe departure from Brazil,” it said.

The foreign ministry further warned Israelis against posting on social media about their military service, saying “anti-Israeli elements may exploit these posts to initiate futile legal proceedings against them.”

The case, which was brought by the Hind Rajab Foundation, or HRF, a Belgium-based organization seeking to document the actions of Israeli soldiers in Gaza and pursue justice for potential war crimes, accused the Israeli soldier of “participating in massive demolitions of civilian homes in Gaza during a systematic campaign of destruction.”

“This is not a case of distant command,” Maira Pinheiro, HRF’s lead lawyer, said in a statement shared on the organization’s website. “This individual actively contributed to the destruction of homes and livelihoods, and his own statements and behavior clearly align with the genocidal objectives in Gaza.”

Citing Article 88 of the Brazilian Code of Criminal Procedure, which covers proceedings for crimes allegedly committed outside of Brazil, Judge Raquel Soares Charelli directed federal police to launch an investigation into soldier on Dec. 30, according to Brazilian news outlet Metrópoles.

HRF also said Israeli officials had assisted the soldier in fleeing Brazil.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and a spokesman for Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz declined to comment on the incident. Israel’s foreign ministry and the Israel Defense Forces did not immediately respond to requests for comment from NBC News.

Federal police in Brazil also did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.

The International Criminal Court in November issued arrest warrants for both Netanyahu and former Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant.

The new case in Brazil has sparked outrage and alarm in Israel, which has vehemently denied allegations of war crimes and accused international courts of antisemitism for pursuing them.

Foreign Afffairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein announced that an urgent discussion would take place Monday in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, on how to protect IDF soldiers abroad from war crimes allegations, according to Israeli media.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid blamed Israel’s leadership for the possible prosecution of Israeli soldiers abroad.

“The fact that an Israeli reservist was forced to flee Brazil in the dead of night to avoid arrest for fighting in Gaza is a huge political failure by an irresponsible government that simply doesn’t know how to work,” Lapid wrote in a post on X on Sunday.

Attorney Yuval Kaplinsky, the former Director of the Department of International Affairs in Israel’s State Attorney’s Office, described Israel’s response to the incident in Brazil as “overstatements” that went “beyond reach.”

“The facts are very very simple. All that happened in Brazil was that the federal judge decided based on those clips only to launch an investigation,” he told NBC News in an interview.

“If a soldier did not take any video clips of himself committing activities that are considered war crimes or did not record himself announcing that he’s engaging in activities that are a war crime, then he should not worry about being arrested.”

Some human rights advocates applauded the case.

“The Brazilian case should remind Israelis that war crimes are crimes of universal jurisdiction, meaning they can be prosecuted by any national court, even if there is no immediate connection to the conflict in Gaza,” said Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch.

United Nations Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese said in a post on X that legal action in Brazil and elsewhere was “necessary and overdue.”