War crimes alleged

A group of lawyers in Norway has accused 10 Israeli officials, including Ehud Olmert, of war crimes in Gaza. The six lawyers filed a complaint with Norway’s chief prosecutor under the country’s new universal jurisdiction law, which allows lawyers to file charges against foreigners, including leaders of other countries, for crimes against humanity and war crimes anywhere in the world, according to reports. Along with Olmert, the former prime minister, ex-foreign minister Tzipi Livni, Defence Minister Ehud Barak and seven army officers were accused of responsibility for “massive terror attacks primarily directed at Gaza’s population” during Israel’s incursion there, Associated Press reported. The attorneys represent three Norwegians of Palestinian origin and 20 families who lost family members or property during the three-week Gaza operation.

Leonard Cohen lobbied

Pro-Palestinian professors from the U.K. last week urged Leonard Cohen to boycott Israel and cancel his plans to perform there this year. “You will perform for a public that by a very large majority had no qualms about its military forces’ onslaught [in Gaza in December, and January].You will perform in a state whose propaganda services will extract every ounce of mileage from your presence. They will use it to whitewash their war crimes,” wrote Haim Bresheeth, Mike Cushman, Hilary Rose and Jonathan Rosenhead, professors in the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine. In the 1973 Yom Kipur War, Leonard Cohen flew to Israel to perform before reserves and regular soldiers fighting in the Sinai desert.

Rights group raps Hamas

Hamas systematically killed and tortured its opponents, Human Rights Watch reported. The watchdog reported last week that the terror group had killed 32 opponents and maimed dozens of others during and after its recent war with Israel in Gaza. “The spate of attacks began during Israel’s military operation, from Dec. 27, 2008 to Jan. 18, 2009, including the summary execution of 18 men in Gaza, most of them suspected collaborators with Israel,” the report said. “It has continued in the three months since, with 14 more killings, at least four of them of people in detention.” Human Rights Watch rejected Hamas’ explanations that such crimes were exceptions and that some of those responsible faced charges.

Israelis want to join EU

A majority of Israelis would like to see their country join the European Union, a new survey says. The 69 per cent of Israelis who want to see Israel join the EU includes 76 per cent of Jews and 40 per cent of Arabs. In addition, 60 per cent of Israelis view the EU favourably, according to the poll conducted by the Keevon Research firm on behalf of the Israel office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung organization. Some 54 per cent of Israelis also support joining NATO, as well as having NATO troops in Gaza and the West Bank in a peacekeeping capacity. Of that percentage, 62 per cent of Jewish Israelis and 24 per cent of Arab Israelis support NATO troops.

Arab village Shoah museum

A museum devoted to the Holocaust was dedicated in an Arab village. The museum opened on Yom Hashoah v’Hagvurah in Na’alin, which is better known for weekly protests of the route of Israel’s security fence that divides the village in two. It’s located in an apartment near where an 11-year-old Palestinian boy was killed last year during a fence protest, Ynetnews reported. The museum features pictures and educational material in Arabic. “If leaders on both sides know and remember what Hitler did, maybe we’ll have peace,” Ibrahim Amira, a Na’alin resident and a leader of the anti-fence protests told Ynet.
– JTA and Ha’aretz