AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.

We end today’s show with a look at a new effort to hold Israeli soldiers accountable, despite a climate of impunity, for crimes committed in Gaza. Last week, Poland adopted a resolution ensuring that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be guaranteed safe entry to Poland to attend ceremonies marking 80 years since the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz. Poland’s deputy foreign minister had said earlier Poland would comply with the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants if Netanyahu visited Poland.

Here in the U.S., the House of Representatives voted last week to sanction the International Criminal Court over arrest warrants for Netanyahu and the former military chief Yoav Gallant.

But in Belgium, a nonprofit called the Hind Rajab Foundation filed a lawsuit Thursday against an Israeli soldier in Sweden who they accused of playing a direct role in the targeting of civilians and destruction of homes. Earlier this month, Israel’s Embassy in Brazil helped a 21-year-old Israeli army reservist flee Brazil after a Brazilian federal court ordered police to open an investigation into possible war crimes he committed in Gaza. That case had also been filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation. The Brussels-based nonprofit is named after 6-year-old Hind Rajab, who was killed, along with her family, in a January 2024 Israeli attack as they were in a car escaping bombardment in Gaza City, a story we covered extensively.

For more, we’re joined now in Brussels by Dyab Abou Jahjah, co-founder of the Hind Rajab Foundation.

Dyab, thank you for joining us. Explain what you are calling for. Talk about the Brazilian case and also the one in Sweden, and where you get your information about what these Israeli soldiers specifically have done.

DYAB ABOU JAHJAH: Thank you, Amy. Thanks for having me.

Indeed, as you said in your presentation, our mission is seeking accountability, seeking justice, basically. It is a sad thing that citizens, as ourselves, should be doing this, because normally this should be an automatic thing that states and legal bodies, international legal bodies, should be seeking. However, it is, of course, our right as citizens to do that when these countries mostly default on their responsibilities.

So, what we do is monitor the posts of Israeli soldiers, who have been extensively, as you know and everybody knows, posting things out of Gaza, out of the ongoing genocide there. And we look for criminal activity, because, you know, obviously, we only target soldiers who have posted things of themselves that we consider, legally speaking, as war crimes, at least, and maybe more than war crimes. So, this is the — you know, every research we do is open intelligence, open-source intelligence. So, this is how we function.

Once we have evidence, we pass it to our legal teams. They prepare cases, and then they file it when the subject enters a country that has jurisdiction, or, let’s say, activating jurisdiction of that country over these things. So, this is what happened in Brazil. This is what happened, before Brazil, in Cyprus, as well, and also, as you mentioned, in Sweden. So, this is basically our way of operating.

AMY GOODMAN: We only have a minute, but can you talk about the Brazil case of the Israeli soldier and, again, how you get the information about what they specifically did?

DYAB ABOU JAHJAH: Again, the information is posted by themselves. So, we analyze it, and we turn, you know, social media posts, basically, into legal cases.

I just want to — since you said we just have a minute, I want to take the opportunity to say that the countries of the world should take their responsibilities. As we speak, Major Ghassan Alian, who is the head of COGAT, which is the entity that oversees the weaponizing of famine in Gaza, is present in Italy to attend a meeting, secretly. We have filed a case against him in the International Criminal Court, asking them to activate any arrest warrant that they have against him or, if not, issue a new one. And we also informed the Italian authorities, asking them to activate their responsibility under the Rome Statute, since they have jurisdiction and since Major General Alian does not have immunity.

This is an example that is now unfolding of how countries of this world should take their responsibilities. And, you know, I think the Brazilian case was a case where that happened, where a judge actually issued a probe order to investigate a soldier. Unfortunately, the Israeli government smuggled the soldier out of Brazil, which is, of course, obstructing justice. But we are continuing. We are relentless in seeking justice, and we are very convinced that one day justice also will be served in a court of law.

AMY GOODMAN: Dyab Abou Jahjah, we want to thank you for being with us, co-founder of the Hind Rajab Foundation, the Belgium-based group advocating for Palestinian rights. That does it for our show. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks so much for joining us.