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Israel’s New Battlefield: Preventing the Arrest of IDF Soldiers Around the World
Technologists with the Israeli military’s Matzpen operational data and applications unit work at their stations, at an IDF base in Ramat Gan, Israel, June 11, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Nir Elias
“The International Criminal Court has set a legal precedent that can be applied to any IDF soldier, former soldier or reservist (which includes most citizens of Israel) as well as to U.S. soldiers and civilian leadership.”
I wrote those words almost three months ago in an article about the arrest warrants issued against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Only weeks later later, this dire prediction is already coming true, with young Israelis urgently fleeing from their vacations to avoid arrest, prosecution, and possible imprisonment — merely for having served in the IDF. Here are the legal mechanisms at play, how to understand what’s happening, and what you can do about it.
The Hind Rajab Foundation, an organization started and led by Dyab Abou Jahjah, a (supposedly former) member of the internationally designated Hezbollah terror organization, claims to have filed arrest requests for 1,000 dual-nationality IDF soldiers across eight countries. The foundation conducts its activities by taking advantage of a legal mechanism called “universal jurisdiction.”
Typically, a country can enforce only its own laws, and only with respect to activities that occur within its own borders. However, some countries have “given themselves” authority to prosecute certain offenses regardless of where they were allegedly committed.
For example, Brazil, South Africa, Ecuador, the Netherlands, France, Argentina, Chile, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Belgium, Serbia, Ireland, and Cyprus, are all considering requests by the Hind Rajab Foundation to arrest visiting or dual-national Israelis, and to prosecute them locally for war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza.
While Israel says that foreign courts have not yet issued actual arrest warrants, numerous Israelis have already had to flee from their vacations after receiving urgent warnings from Israeli intelligence — most recently from Brazil, where an investigation is ongoing against IDF soldier and Nova massacre survivor Yuval Vagdani, as well as an (unnamed) IDF reservist who recently fled from Cyprus.
Strictly speaking, universal jurisdiction violates international law. Under the modern international system, a country must sign a treaty or otherwise agree to an international code of conduct before being subject to its rules. The various treaties that govern international law also establish international courts and tribunals to enforce their rules, which means a country must agree (via the relevant treaty) to be subject to that court’s jurisdiction.
For example, the Rome Statute (to which Israel and the United States are not a party) established the International Criminal Court, while the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (to which Israel is a party) established the International Court of Justice. (For a discussion of how the ICC “gave itself” jurisdiction over Israel in violation of its own rules, see our previous article.)
By contrast, Israel never agreed to be bound by the laws of (for example) Brazil, nor by Brazilian courts or its judges.
On the one hand, the international system respects local authority, which means that if an Israeli tourist commits a crime in Brazil, then Brazilian laws and courts will legitimately apply. However, to arrest an Israeli in Brazil on the basis of his or her IDF service, surpasses the bounds of Brazilian authority. Nonetheless, there is a difference between law and reality: if Brazil were to arrest an Israeli tourist, law would become essentially irrelevant, as Israel would be limited to either bringing diplomatic pressure or going to war.
South Africa has gone one step further: criminalizing IDF service by any South African citizen. This means that even without a trial over war crimes, merely serving in the IDF, in any capacity, could result in arrest and prosecution by South African authorities.
While the ICC’s arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant do not explicitly authorize the arrest of IDF soldiers, the case has had a psychological impact on countries worldwide — creating a sort of assumption that Israel “must be” actually engaged in war crimes, and thus giving national leaders encouragement to exercise universal jurisdiction against Israelis.
Legal procedure aside, Israel is quite simply not engaged in war crimes.
Israel’s operations in Gaza have produced among the lowest civilian to combatant casualty ratios in human history (even according to Hamas’ exaggerated and unreliable figures), approximately nine times less than the UN published global average: thanks in great part to Israel’s incredibly strict rules of engagement.
A recent New York Times article criticizes Israel for “loosening” its rules of engagement in Gaza, specifically claiming that Israel expanded the number of civilians who may be endangered in any given strike. What the NYT hid from its readers, however, is that neither international law, nor most countries, set any such limits at all.
The Geneva Conventions prohibit intentionally targeting civilians, and require that any harm to civilians be proportional to the military objective sought. However, the Geneva Conventions (and most countries) do not set any specific limit on how many civilians may be at risk in any given operation.
In other words, Israel has gone from vastly exceeding the requirements of international law (as well as the limits followed by most other countries) to … still vastly exceeding both. The result has been Israel’s record-breakingly low civilian to combatant casualty ratio.
In short, what we are seeing in both domestic and international courts is not law, but lawfare: the manipulation of legal institutions to conduct warfare, off the battlefield.
IDF soldiers should be careful about what they post on social media, including both activities in uniform as well as travel plans, because anti-Israel and anti-Jewish organizations are using this data to carry out their lawfare-based attacks. Soldiers should also be careful about where they travel on vacation and should stay in regular contact with the relevant Israeli consulate or embassy.
As for the rest of us, it is critical that we contact our elected representatives and speak in our communities. Because lawfare isn’t truly legal in nature, it will not be resolved by a legal process. Only the power of international diplomacy, and Israel’s friends and allies around the world, will win this next of Israel’s many, many recent battles in the multi-front war for our very survival — as a country and as a people.
Daniel Pomerantz is the CEO of RealityCheck, an organization dedicated to deepening public conversation through robust research studies and public speaking.
The post Israel’s New Battlefield: Preventing the Arrest of IDF Soldiers Around the World first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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North London Synagogue, Nursery Targeted in Eighth Local Antisemitic Incident in Just Over a Week
Demonstrators against antisemitism in London on Sept. 8, 2025. Photo: Campaign Against Antisemitism
A synagogue and its nursery school in the Golders Green area of north London were targeted in an antisemitic attack on Thursday morning — the eighth such incident locally in just over a week amid a shocking surge of anti-Jewish hate crimes in the area.
The synagogue and Jewish nursery were smeared with excrement in an antisemitic outrage echoing a series of recent incidents targeting the local Jewish community.
“The desecration of another local synagogue and a children’s nursery with excrement is a vile, deliberate, and premeditated act of antisemitism,” Shomrim North West London, a Jewish organization that monitors antisemitism and also serves as a neighborhood watch group, said in a statement.
“This marks the eighth antisemitic incident locally in just over a week, to directly target the local Jewish community,” the statement read. “These repeated attacks have left our community anxious, hurt, and increasingly worried.”
Local law enforcement confirmed they are reviewing CCTV footage and collecting evidence to identify the suspect and bring them to justice.
This latest anti-Jewish hate crime came just days after tens of thousands of people marched through London in a demonstration against antisemitism, amid rising levels of antisemitic incidents across the United Kingdom since the Hamas-led invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
In just over a week, seven Jewish premises in Barnet, the borough in which Golders Green is located, have been targeted in separate antisemitic incidents.
According to the Metropolitan Police, an investigation has been launched into the targeted attacks, all of which involved the use of bodily fluids.
During the incidents, a substance was smeared on four synagogues and a private residence, while a liquid was thrown at a school and over a car in two other attacks.
As the investigation continues, local police said they believe the same suspect is likely responsible for all seven offenses, which are being treated as religiously motivated criminal damage.
No arrests have been made so far, but law enforcement said it is actively engaging with the local Jewish community to provide reassurance and support.
The Community Security Trust (CST), a nonprofit charity that advises Britain’s Jewish community on security matters, condemned the recent wave of attacks and called on authorities to take immediate action.
“The extreme defilement of several Jewish locations in and around Golders Green is utterly abhorrent and deeply distressing,” CST said in a statement.
“CST is working closely with police and communal partners to support victims and help identify and apprehend the perpetrator,” it continued.
The Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) also denounced the attacks, calling for urgent measures to protect the Jewish community.
“These repeated incidents are leaving British Jews anxious and vulnerable in their own neighborhoods, not to mention disgusted,” CAA said in a statement.
Since the start of the war in Gaza, the United Kingdom has experienced a surge in antisemitic crimes and anti-Israel sentiment.
Last month, CST published a report showing there were 1,521 antisemitic incidents in the UK from January to June of this year. It marks the second-highest total of incidents ever recorded by CST in the first six months of any year, following the first half of 2024 in which 2,019 antisemitic incidents were recorded.
In total last year, CST recorded 3,528 antisemitic incidents for 2024, the country’s second worst year for antisemitism despite being an 18 percent drop from 2023’s record of 4,296.
In previous years, the numbers were significantly lower, with 1,662 incidents in 2022 and 2,261 hate crimes in 2021.
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Germany to Hold Off on Recognizing Palestinian State but Will Back UN Resolution for Two-State Solution
German national flag flutters on top of the Reichstag building, that seats the Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, in Berlin, Germany, March 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Lisi Niesner
Germany will support a United Nations resolution for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but does not believe the time has come to recognize a Palestinian state, a government spokesman told Reuters on Thursday.
“Germany will support such a resolution which simply describes the status quo in international law,” the spokesman said, adding that Berlin “has always advocated a two-state solution and is asking for that all the time.”
“The chancellor just mentioned two days ago again that Germany does not see that the time has come for the recognition of the Palestinian state,” the spokesman added.
Britain, France, Canada, Australia, and Belgium have all said they will recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly later this month, although London said it could hold back if Israel were to take steps to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and commit to a long-term peace process.
The United States strongly opposes any move by its European allies to recognize Palestinian independence.
Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the US has told other countries that recognition of a Palestinian state will cause more problems.
Those who see recognition as a largely symbolic gesture point to the negligible presence on the ground and limited influence in the conflict of countries such as China, India, Russia, and many Arab states that have recognized Palestinian independence for decades.
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UN Security Council, With US Support, Condemns Strikes on Qatar
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani attends an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, following an Israeli attack on Hamas leaders in Doha, Qatar, at UN headquarters in New York City, US, Sept. 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz
The United Nations Security Council on Thursday condemned recent strikes on Qatar’s capital Doha, but did not mention Israel in the statement agreed to by all 15 members, including Israel‘s ally the United States.
Israel attempted to kill the political leaders of Hamas with the attack on Tuesday, escalating its military action in what the United States described as a unilateral attack that does not advance US and Israeli interests.
The United States traditionally shields its ally Israel at the United Nations. US backing for the Security Council statement, which could only be approved by consensus, reflects President Donald Trump’s unhappiness with the attack ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Council members underscored the importance of de-escalation and expressed their solidarity with Qatar. They underlined their support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar,” read the statement, drafted by Britain and France.
The Doha operation was especially sensitive because Qatar has been hosting and mediating negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire in the Gaza war.
“Council members underscored that releasing the hostages, including those killed by Hamas, and ending the war and suffering in Gaza must remain our top priority,” the Security Council statement read.
The Security Council will meet later on Thursday to discuss the Israeli attack at a meeting due to be attended by Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.