{"id":793937,"date":"2026-05-13T17:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/793937\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T17:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T17:38:19","slug":"hrf-files-complaint-over-dismissal-of-charges-against-idf-soldier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/793937\/","title":{"rendered":"HRF files complaint over dismissal of charges against IDF soldier"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/diaspora\/article-893403\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF)<\/a> has filed a disciplinary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/article-895629\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">complaint<\/a> against a German Senior Federal Public Prosecutor for dismissing a criminal complaint against a German-Israeli IDF soldier.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">HRF claims that the \u201cunjustified dismissal\u201d shielded soldier Shimon Avichai Zuckerman from genocide charges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">HRF first filed a criminal complaint against Zuckerman, a member of the 8219th Battalion, in June 2025. The allegations against Zuckerman mainly focus on the destruction of buildings in Gaza.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Zuckerman reportedly documented his involvement in the demolition of Gaza through multiple video montages, posted on social media, showing him preparing explosive charges, counting down to detonations, and proudly observing the destruction of buildings he had rigged.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Germany has a duty to investigate and prosecute its own citizens for international crimes<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>HRF claimed that, under Section 1 of Germany\u2019s Code of Crimes against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/defense-news\/article-886872\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">International Law<\/a> (VStGB), the German state has a mandatory, non-discretionary duty to investigate and prosecute its own citizens for international crimes committed anywhere in the world.<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"822\" height=\"829\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/704311.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">However, the German Federal Public Prosecutor dismissed the case on 8 April 2026. HRF subsequently filed an appeal against the decision and submitted a new 164-page investigative report detailing Zuckerman\u2019s alleged criminal conduct.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">It has now also filed a complaint against the Federal Public Prosecutor\u2019s decision to close the case without investigation, which HRF says violates the principle of legality (Legalitatsprinzip) and the principle of official investigation (Offizialmaxime).<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">\u201cBy accepting a suspect\u2019s self-serving narrative as the basis for dismissal, the Prosecutor has abdicated the state\u2019s duty to uncover the truth and transformed the Federal Prosecutor\u2019s office from a guardian of justice into a shield for genocide,\u201d the organization said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">HRF also said the case dismissal represents a \u201cdeliberate act of state complicity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">\u201cZuckerman is not merely a suspect; he is a German citizen who is fully aware of his alleged crimes and has openly called upon the Israeli state to shield him from prosecution. By accepting his claims without independent verification and refusing to initiate an investigation, German authorities are effectively acting as an extension of that shield.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Dyab Abou Jahjah, General Director of the HRF, said: \u201cThe Federal Prosecutor has reduced the German legal system to a farce by accepting the unverified claims of a suspect accused of genocide.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cZuckerman is a German citizen who is openly calling for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/politics-and-diplomacy\/article-895843\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">protection<\/a> from the Israeli state, and Germany is complying. This is not justice. It is state-sponsored impunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">Natacha Bracq, Head of Litigation at HRF, said the organization has \u201cproof\u201d of Zuckerman\u2019s German nationality and \u201cevidence of his crimes\u201d and therefore that the Federal Prosecutor\u2019s refusal to act \u201cbreaches the most fundamental duties of the German state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">\u201cWe are filing criminal complaints against Zuckerman and his unit again in Germany and across the globe. They will not get away with this. Germany must choose: stand with the law, or stand with the perpetrators.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-paragraph-section article-body-paragraph\">HRF issued the following demands: an immediate criminal investigation into Zuckerman under Sections 6, 7, 9, and 11 of the VStGB; an arrest warrant for him; and disciplinary sanctions on the Senior Public Prosecutor who dismissed the complaint for breach of official duties.<\/p>\n<p>The Jerusalem Post reached out to the Public Prosecutor for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) has filed a disciplinary complaint against a German Senior Federal Public Prosecutor for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":793938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[70,117,55374,13850,99,50,44442],"class_list":{"0":"post-793937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-gaza","9":"tag-germany","10":"tag-hind-rajab-foundation","11":"tag-idf-soldiers","12":"tag-israel","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-war-crimes"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116568491422622815","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/793938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}