The immunity prevents Gantz and Eshel from being prosecuted in the Supreme Court of Justice on charges of war crimes during Israeli operations.
The Supreme Court in the Netherlands has ruled to grant legal immunity to the former Chief of Staff, Benny Gantz, and the former Commander of the Air Force and Director General of the Ministry of the Army, Amir Eshel, Israel’s Channel 7 reported on Friday.
The highest Dutch court confirmed rulings by judges in two lower courts that Gantz and Eshel are protected from prosecution because of their “functional immunity”.
The immunity prevents them from being prosecuted in the Supreme Court of Justice on charges of war crimes during Israeli operations.
The civil lawsuit was filed against Gantz and Eshel in September 2019 by Ismail Ziada, a Dutch-Palestinian citizen, who lost six family members in an airstrike during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.
Ziada, who is a Dutch citizen, said in a statement that he was “disappointed and angered” by the decision.
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“The court has once again chosen to put politics over people and blocked access to justice”, Ziada said, adding that he is considering appealing to the European Court of Human Rights.
For his part, Gantz welcomed the ruling, crediting Israel’s “stong and independent judicial system”, which protects Israeli officials “even in front of international courts”.
(PC, MEMO)
