Israel to sue Meshaal for closing Ben-Gurion Airport

The Shurat Hadin legal centre has announced its intention to prosecute the Head of Hamas’s Political Bureau, Khaled Meshaal, as well as other Hamas officials on charges of obstructing air travel at Israel’s Ben-Gurion Airport during the most recent Israeli attack on Gaza.

Israel’s Channel 2 reported that the centre, which specialises in filing lawsuits against Israel’s opponents in American and Canadian courts, has called on all Americans harmed by the obstructed air travel due to the rockets fired at the airport by the Al-Qassam Brigades to contact the centre in order for a lawsuit to be filed in their names.

Channel 2 also quoted Attorney Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, director of Shurat Hadin, saying: “We are trying to find a way to put Khaled Meshaal on trial in the US. The war crimes that he conducted against Israel and its citizens can be heard also in other courts aside from the criminal court in the Hague.” She said that the suit is made possible by the fact that Meshaal holds Jordanian citizenship, and also because the Palestinian Authority (PA) has requested to join the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Darshan-Leitner noted that she is basing her argument on the American law that prohibits attacking American citizens when they are in international airports.

She added: “After we have all these figures we will turn to the American attorney general and demand that he put on trial Meshaal and those who were responsible for the rocket fire from Hamas.”

Stressing that this task should not be difficult because Hamas divided Gaza into regions and placed commanders in charge of each one, meaning it would be easy to determine who is responsible for the regions from which rockets were fired.