The National Court will investigate two high-ranking Israeli commanders for the assault on the Global Flotilla Sumud

BarcelonaThe National High Court has admitted two lawsuits against two high-ranking Israeli military officials for alleged crimes of illegal detention in the assault on the Global Sumud Flotilla last October. The civil mission was intercepted in international waters by the Israeli military when it was carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Contrary to the criteria of the Public Prosecutor's Office, magistrate Francisco de Jorge, head of Central Court of Instruction Number 1, has admitted the lawsuits filed by the Communist Party of Spain, United Left Federal and other individuals against Eyal Zamir, head of the Armed Forces, and Ram Rothberg, commander of the Naval Forces.

Jorge will investigate the events that occurred on October 1st in international waters against an initiative of which numerous militants and social and human rights activists were part, as well as CUP deputy Pilar Castillejo, ERC councilor in Barcelona Jordi Coronas and former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau. According to the resolution, which the ARA has had access to, Israeli troops boarded the ships, "many of them Spanish-flagged and under Spanish jurisdiction, and forcibly took control of these vessels and destroyed numerous objects". At the time of the interception, the vessels were "70 nautical miles from the coast".

According to the plaintiffs' account, the resolution indicates that "since the seizure of the ships, the crew members would have found themselves under illegal detention at the Ketziot maximum-security prison", where the text of the National Court underlines that “continued systematic torture would have occurred without effective legal and diplomatic assistance”.

The magistrate points out that some of the acts committed on board vessels flying the Spanish flag present "similarity" with the facts proven by the same National Court regarding the case of the kidnapping by Somali pirates of the fishing boat Alakrana in 2009. At that time, the attribution of the investigation to Spanish jurisdiction was declared "resoundingly", and the Supreme Court confirmed the doctrine in December 2011.

The investigation excludes attacks by the Israeli army's drones against various vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla, as according to the resolution "they would not have affected" ships flying the Spanish flag, and also excludes acts committed against crew members with Spanish nationality who were on ships flying the flag of other countries.

Consultation to the International Criminal Court

Besides Zamir and Rothberg, the lawsuits were also directed against Yosef Knipes, the highest authority at Ketziot prison, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the National Security Minister, upon whom Israel's prison system depends. The magistrate, however, will not investigate them, as he has not admitted the texts in relation to any events that occurred outside of vessels flying the Spanish flag. Nevertheless, the judge asks the International Criminal Court to indicate whether he can independently investigate these alleged illegal detentions or if, on the contrary, these inquiries conflict with the investigations already opened in The Hague for possible crimes of genocide, war crimes, or crimes against humanity.