Germany urged to arrest Israeli ex-PM Olmert over Gaza war crimes

A legal action group has filed a criminal complaint in Germany accusing former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of committing war crimes during Israel's 2008–2009 assault on Gaza.

Olmert, who oversaw 'Operation Cast Lead', in which more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, was in Germany on Thursday to attend the Haaretz Democracy Conference.

The complaint was filed with both the Berlin Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Prosecutor General in Karlsruhe by German lawyer Melanie Schweizer on behalf of the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF).

Under German law, serious violations of international humanitarian law can be prosecuted regardless of the suspect's nationality or where the crimes were committed.

In its statement, the HRF said Olmert bears "ultimate responsibility" for war crimes committed in Gaza during his premiership, including "the indiscriminate bombardment of densely populated civilian areas, the destruction of hospitals, schools, and UN facilities, and the killing of more than 1,300 Palestinians - among them over 300 children and 115 women."

The foundation urged German authorities to issue an arrest warrant for Olmert, open a formal investigation, and prevent him from leaving the country.

"The victims of Gaza deserve justice, no matter how much time has passed," HRF Dyab Abou Jahjah, general director of the Hind Rajab Foundation. "Those responsible for war crimes must know that accountability has no expiration date and that the world is closing in on impunity."

The UN's 2009 fact-finding mission concluded that the war was "a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself".

Human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, also documented the Israeli army's use of banned white phosphorus.

During his premiership, Olmert also led the 2006 war on Lebanon, which led to the deaths of more than 1,200 Lebanese civilians and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. The war was widely considered a political and military failure in Israel.