Lebanon-Israel deal may stop war crime victims seeking justice, experts say | Lebanon

A new agreement between Lebanon and Israel could prevent Israel from seeking accountability for victims of war crimes in Lebanon and hinder future efforts to give the international criminal court jurisdiction in the country, legal experts said.

Lebanon and Israel signed a 14-point framework agreement to end the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in Washington on Friday.

Article 13 of the agreement states that Israel and Lebanon will “cease all hostile or negative actions in international political or legal forums” in order to create goodwill between the two parties.

The broadly worded text could prevent victims of Israeli war crimes allegedly committed during the conflict since October 8, 2023, from seeking justice through international or national courts.

Legal experts also understood that this meant that Lebanon could not grant the ICC jurisdiction in the country; advocates have pushed for Israel and its leaders to be prosecuted for alleged war crimes.

“This will destroy any hope of granting jurisdiction to the ICC, even the hope of a U.N. fact-finding mission,” said Farouk al-Moghrabi, a former adviser to the human rights ministry who helped draft a law granting jurisdiction to the ICC in Lebanon. He said the law would also eliminate domestic efforts to investigate and document crimes.

Nizar Saghieh, a lawyer and president of Legal Agenda, a Lebanese non-governmental organization, said: “The government normalizes crime and waives any right to ensure any investigation or prosecution of these crimes or even to assist the victim in their pursuit of justice.”

A spokesman for the Lebanese presidency did not respond to a request for comment.

Hezbollah leader Naim Qasim rejected the agreement signed in Washington, calling it “humiliation”. The group has repeatedly called on the Lebanese government to stop direct negotiations with Israel.

Israel and Hezbollah have been fighting since 2023, when Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel in solidarity with Hamas, triggering two Israeli invasions of southern Lebanon and widespread bombing campaigns. Israeli attacks in Lebanon killed more than 8,000 people, while Hezbollah attacks killed dozens of Israeli soldiers and at least 49 civilians in Israel.

Israel has killed more than a dozen journalists, more than 300 emergency responders, and hundreds of women and children as part of its campaign in Lebanon.

Israel may have committed numerous war crimes in Lebanon, including the October 13, 2023 targeting of journalists, the mass forced displacement of hundreds of thousands of people and certain instances of deliberately targeting civilians, human rights experts have said.

One avenue for accountability for victims of Israel’s alleged war crimes in Lebanon was to petition the government to grant the ICC limited jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute on its territory.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza. Israel and the United States launched an aggressive campaign against the ICC in response, including the United States imposing sanctions on ICC judges.

The Lebanese government has so far not authorized the ICC due to initial resistance from Hezbollah and potential US sanctions. Friday’s framework agreement will be another obstacle to accountability in the country.

Lebanon’s national human rights commission issued a statement commenting on the framework agreement, stressing that no agreement should prevent victims from seeking justice.

“The Commission emphasizes that the prosecution of perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and torture is not an act of hostility or a political stance, but is a legitimate exercise of the rights to justice,” the statement said.

It was stated that the vague and broad nature of the framework agreement also makes it unclear what will be considered a “hostile or negative action”.

The office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recently arrived in Lebanon on an investigative mission into possible war crimes committed during the last war. It is unclear whether such work will be banned under the new agreement.

“For this to happen after all these crimes is normalizing the crimes and providing Israel with a kind of immunity,” Saghieh said.