NORWEGIAN LAWYERS SUE ISRAEL FOR WAR CRIMES ABUSES

C O N F I D E N T I A L OSLO 000315 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/27/2019 TAGS: PREL PINR PHUM IS NO SUBJECT: NORWEGIAN LAWYERS SUE ISRAEL FOR WAR CRIMES ABUSES Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Kevin M. Johnson for reasons 1.4 b and d ¶1. (U) As widely reported in the international press, a group of Norwegian attorneys filed with the Public Prosecutor's Office a request for the Government of Norway to pursue a war crimes case against Israeli officials for actions in Gaza. The lead attorney pressing the matter is a well know human rights lawyer who has taken cases before the EU Human Rights Court. ¶2. (C) The decision of whether to proceed rests with the GON Public Prosecutor's Office and the MFA has been at pains to note this is a purely legal matter for that office to consider. Under a recent change to Norwegian law, there is now universal jurisdiction for certain serious offenses such as war crimes. Thus, technically the Office could choose to move forward with this. However, to date the Office has not taken similar cases forward, choosing for example not to prosecute a Norwegian company involved in Guantanamo several months ago. This is probably partly driven by the nature of the Chief Public Prosecutor, Siri Firigaard, who is not prone to political gestures. It is also driven by the fact that there are only five prosecutors in the Office and a tremendous backlog of serious cases, including some war crime cases against individuals from the Balkans who now reside in Norway. When post last spoke with Firigaard, she bemoaned their lack of resources and the overwhelming number of cases before them. The attorneys filing this request also seem to doubt they will get far, saying that simply filing the request makes their point. ¶3. (C) The Israeli Ambassador to Norway told Embassy Oslo that the GOI had mentioned the lawsuit as an item of concern to the Norwegian MFA's political advisor, Vegard Ellefsen. This lawsuit issue is the latest in a string of events which highlight the Israeli Embassy's concerns. In early winter during the Gaza war, Oslo saw a series of large anti-Israel demonstrations, some of which turned violent. More recently, the Israeli Ambassador formally protested Norwegian Foreign Minister Stoere's decision to stay in the room at the UN Racism Conference in Geneva during the Iranian President's speech. The Ambassador also confidently told us that the embassy will likely sue the Norwegian National Broadcasting Company for what they perceive to be very biased news magazine reporting on Hezbollah and the Gaza war. WHITNEY