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Israeli court rules against exposing Israel’s role in Bosnian genocide

December 9, 2016 at 1:39 pm

Gravestones at the Potočari genocide memorial near Srebrenica [Michael Büker/Wikipedia]

Israel’s Supreme Court recently ruled against exposing Israel’s role in the Bosnian genocide, rejecting a petition that sought official details of Israeli defence exports to the former Yugoslavia.

According to the report in 972mag, the court ruled that “exposing Israeli involvement in genocide would damage the country’s foreign relations to such an extent that it would outweigh the public interest in knowing that information, and the possible prosecution of those involved.”

The petitioners, Attorney Itay Mack and Professor Yair Oron, presented the court with “concrete evidence of Israeli defence exports to Serbian forces at the time, including training as well as ammunition and rifles.”

The evidence included the personal journal of General Ratko Mladić, currently on trial at the International Court of Justice, which “explicitly mentions Serbia’s ample arms ties with Israel at the time”.

The Israeli exports took place “long after the UN Security Council placed an arms embargo on various parts of the former Yugoslavia, and after the publication of a series of testimonies exposing genocide and the creation of concentration camps.”

As the 972mag article put it, “the Israeli State Attorney’s reply and the court’s rejection of the petition are a de facto admission by Israel that it cooperated with the Bosnian genocide,” since “if the government had nothing to hide, the documents under discussion would not pose any threat to foreign relations.”

According to 972mag, “the state faces a series of similar requests regarding its collaboration with the murderers of the Argentinian Junta, Pinochet’s regime in Chile, and Sri Lanka.”