Spain issues arrest warrant for Netanyahu

Judge Jose de la Mata of Spain's Audiencia Nacional on Nov. 12 ordered the Civil Guard and police forces to notify him if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or any of six of his former officials set foot on Spanish soil, as their visit could re-open a case filed against them in the country. The judge put the case on hold in June 2014 after Spain reformed its Universal Justice doctrine. The case was opened by the Audenica, following the 2010 Israeli raid on the Freedom Flotilla bound for Gaza on a humanitarian mission. The list of Israeli officials also includes former defense minister Ehud Barak, former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, former strategic affairs minister (and current defense minister) Moshe Yaalon, former interior minister Eli Yishai, minister-without-portfolio Benny Begin, and the vice-admiral in charge of the operation, Maron Eliezer. (LAHT, Nov. 16; EFE, Nov. 13; El Diaro, Madrid, Nov. 12)

Spain tightened its law on universal justice last year, with a legal reform stipulating a Spanish victim must be involved. Before that, the principle was famously used by former judgeBaltasar Garzón in his attempts to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. (AP, May 28)

Charges were also brought in Turkey agaist the Israeli commanders in the raid, and last year a Turkish court issued arrest orders for four. (YNet, May 26, 2014) Palestinian authorities arepetitioning the International Criminal Court to open an investigation of Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip last year.