MADRID: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and seven other former and current government officials may be at risk of arrest over the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla raid if they step foot on Spanish soil after a judge, late last week, drew up warrants.
Others who might face arrest include former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman; current and former defense ministers Moshe Ya’alon and Ehud Barak, respectively; former interior minister Eli Yishai; former intelligence minister Dan Meridor; and minster-without-portfolio Bennie Begin.
Together with Netanyahu, they make up the so-called Forum of Seven, an ad hoc committee of ministers that made key decisions on security issues at the time. Former head of the Navy Eliezer Marom, the top IDF commander running the operation at the time, also could face arrest.
“We consider it [the judge’s order] to be a provocation. We are working with the Spanish authorities to get it canceled. We hope it will be over soon,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nachshon said Saturday night.
The Prime Minister’s Office and the Justice Ministry had not responded yet.
In the 2010 incident, a group of human rights activists and a smaller group of IHH activists (which the quasi-government Turkel Commission Report identified as affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood) boarded several ships to try to break an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Israel commandeered and stopped most of the ships without incident, but when Israel Navy commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara they were attacked by IHH activists who wounded some commandos.
The incident left 10 dead on the IHH side.
Spain is just the latest member of the international community to accuse Israel of war crimes and pursue Israeli officials over the affair.
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