Earlier, a federal court in Brazil ordered an investigation into a visiting Israeli, who served in the IDF, for possible war crimes after the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) provided the court with documentation of the soldier's activity in the war in Gaza. The suspect was a survivor of the Nova music festival massacre on Oct. 7. According to reports he was able to leave Brazil before any legal action was taken against him.
"We have filed this complaint so that an investigation is carried out and as a preventive measure, the immediate arrest of this Israeli soldier is carried out so that he can be held accountable for the crimes committed and take responsibility before international criminal justice," said lawyer and former Chilean ambassador Nelson Hadad at a press conference on Friday, who explained that the arrest must take place "before the imminent escape attempt."
Hadad added that the "issue is extremely urgent. We have to assume our responsibility and we cannot accept that after having massacred hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, mostly children and women, they can be allowed to come to Chilean Patagonia for vacation."
The former Chilean ambassador is one of the 620 lawyers who last year denounced the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The lawyers accuse Hirshoren of "deliberately demolishing neighborhoods, cultural sites and essential facilities in Gaza with inhuman, cruel, degrading and abominable acts, causing ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of people," said the senator of the conservative party Renovación Nacional, Francisco Chahuán, who leads the lawyers who filed the complaint along with Hadad.
The complaint was supported by the testimony of a Palestinian woman living in Chile whose family was a allegedly a victim of the operations of the Israeli Army commando to which Hirshoren is said to belong, seeks, in the words of Hadad, "to make international criminal justice prevail, regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator."
"The principle of extraterritoriality based on Law 20357 (which classifies crimes against humanity and genocide and war crimes and offences), together with our ratification of the Rome Statute gives jurisdiction to Chilean courts to prosecute this type of crimes," said Chahuán.
According to the member of AbogadosxPalestina, Paula Abugattas, "the importance of this complaint is that it can kick start additional legislation in other countries where there are soldiers who have committed war crimes and crimes against humanity."
The complaint filed with the Metropolitan Prosecutor's Office is added to the one filed by the Belgium-based Hind Rajab Foundation, which on December 26 requested the arrest of Saar Hirshoren after being located in Argentina and, later, in Chile. The exact whereabouts of the soldier are currently unknown.
The lawyers have announced that, in addition to having filed this complaint with the Chilean Prosecutor's Office, they are going to file a "criminal action" before the International Criminal Court for the same crimes.
"We advocate for a state solution where Israel and Palestine can live side by side with full respect for international law and international humanitarian law, with secure and internationally recognized borders," said Chahuán regarding the position regarding this historic conflict of the lawyers and of Chile, a country that hosts the largest community of Palestinians outside the Arab world.
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For years, thousands of Israeli soldiers have been travelling to South America after their military service to Patagonia, either in Argentina or Chile, where Nazi leaders hid more than half a century ago.
Dozens of Israelis are currently on holiday in the area, particularly in the town of Aysen in Chile, one of the smoothest border crossings with Argentina. The Hind Rajab Foundation has also filed a similar request for Hirshoren's arrest with the judicial authorities in Argentina.