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Olmert, Barak, Livni Sued for War Crimes

A complaint was filed in Belgian court against 14 Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak were among those charged with war crimes committed during the Gaza war in the winter of 2008-09, the French daily Le Monde reported. Former Gen. Matan Vilnai and other Israeli army leaders, politicians and intelligence officials also were included on the list.

Two lawyers representing 13 family members of victims of an Israeli army bombing of a mosque near the Jabaliya refugee camp during the war said they filed their complaints Wednesday in Brussels, according to reports.

A Belgian doctor with Palestinian roots also is among the complainants. He claims that Israeli forces destroyed his family’s olive fields.

Much of the 70-page complaint is based on the Goldstone report, according to the French news agency AFP. The report by a U.N. commission led by former South African justice Richard Goldstone accused Israel and Hamas of war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity.

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