Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Sharon - reazioni alla sentenza in Belgio

Ha'aretz - Thursday, February 13, 2003 Adar1 11, 5763 Israel Time:
14:03  (GMT+2)  
 
 
 
 
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/262632.html
 
 
FM summons Belgian ambassador to protest court
decision 
 
By Sharon Sadeh, Aluf Benn and Amnon Barzilai, Haaretz Correspondents,
and Haaretz Service 
 
 
 
 
Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the Belgian ambassador to
Israel, Wilfried Geens, and strongly protested the Belgian Supreme
Court's verdict on prosecuting Israelis for their involvement in the
Sabra and Chatila massacres in 1982 in Beirut. 
Netanyahu said "Israel will not accept another blood libel against the
Jewish nation and Israel is not Europe, the verdict was more political
than judicial. Belgium is giving a prize to terror." 
The head of the State Prosecutor's international division, Irit Kahan,
who represented Israel at the Supreme Court hearing, told Army Radio
Thursday morning that the ruling was a political decision, and that
deliberations throughout the course of the hearing deviated from the
accepted judicial norms, and veered towards the political realm. 
In response to the ruling, according to which Defense Ministry
director-general Amos Yaron could be prosecuted for his involvement in
the massacres, during which he was commander of the IDF forces in the
Lebanese capital, Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday
recalled Israel's ambassador to Belgium, Yehudi Kinar. 
The court also ruled that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon can be put on
trial for his alleged involvement in the affair, but only after he
ceases to be prime minister, when he no longer has diplomatic
immunity. 
Yaron said Thursday that, "The decision made by the Belgian Supreme
Court was political in nature, and dangerous. The ruling is a very
severe decision, and Belgium is taking upon itself the mission of
world judge. This is an attempt to rouse disorder in the world, in a
manner that has no explanation." 
President Moshe Katsav added his voice Thursday to those criticizing
the Belgian court's decision. In a strongly worded message to the king
of Belgium, Albert II, Katsav wrote that IDF troops had operated
according to international norms and the laws of conscience and human
morals, and that nobody could doubt that. 
In addition to recalling the ambassador, Netanyahu urgently summoned
Belgium's ambassador to Israel for a meeting Thursday at which the
foreign minister will deliver a vehement Israeli reaction to the court
decision. 
However, some sources within the Foreign Ministry said the decision to
recall the ambassador was an over-reaction, Army Radio reported
Thursday. Among those questioning the decision is the former
director-general of the ministry, Alon Liel. 
"Recalling an ambassador is a very serious step," Liel said. "We have
to remember that we are talking about a decision from a court, not
from the Belgian government." 
Government sources said Wednesday night it was not yet known how long
Israel's ambassador to Belgium would be kept at home, but that there
was no doubt that the decision would have a negative influence on
Israel-Belgium relations. 
In a statement issued Wednesday night, Netanyahu said the Belgian
court had made "a scandalous decision, which legitimizes terror and
harms those who fight it. This turns the tables - when those who fight
terror turn into the accused and the terrorists are victorious. 
"Belgium is helping to harm not only Israel, but also the entire free
world, and Israel will respond with severity to this," the foreign
minister continued. 
Government sources expressed concern regarding the possibility of
future prosecutions against Israelis in Belgium, based on Wednesday's
court ruling. But they also noted that Palestinian Authority Chairman
Yasser Arafat was also in line for prosecution in Belgium, in the wake
of complaints filed against him by Israeli terror victims. 
Meanwhile, Yaron, who is most directly threatened by the ruling, said:
"The court decision is very serious and the way in which the entire
affair was handled does not look right to me." 
He said that he would be consulting with legal advisors, including the
Defense Ministry's legal advisor, Zvia Gross, to study the decision.
"I am not worried by the decision. I don't travel to Belgium. The
ministry doesn't have any business with Belgium, and I haven't been
there since becoming director-general," he added. 
Defense Ministry sources voiced outrage and concern about the decision
making it possible to prosecute Yaron, who was in command of IDF
forces in Beirut at the time of the massacre of some 800 Palestinians
by Phalangist troops who were Israeli allies during the war. 
The Defense Ministry will not be issuing a formal statement until it
has heard directly from the head of international affairs at the State
Prosecutor's Office, Irit Kahn, who was in the Belgian court for the
verdict yesterday. One worry is that Belgium could use extradition
treaties, to which Israel is signed, and issue a pan-European warrant
for Yaron's arrest. However, the court decision yesterday only
stipulated that a lower instance could begin an investigation of its
own into Yaron's involvement. The Belgian government has, meanwhile,
been fashioning new legislation that would severely limit the ability
of its legal system to prosecute suspected international war criminals
with no connection to Belgium.
 
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La libertà è libertà di dire che due più due fa quattro.
Concessa questa libertà, tutte le altre ne seguono.
George Orwell, 1984

connection to Belgium.
Per fortuna.
-Stefano