Brazilian Judge Orders War Crime Investigations Against Israeli Soldier On Holiday

• Israel Publishes Guide for Soldiers to Avoid Arrest for War Crimes Abroad

Israel’s military has announced new media engagement rules for its members after a Brazilian court ordered an investigation into war crime allegations against a soldier visiting the country.

The guidelines, announced Wednesday, require the names and faces of most of its soldiers – both active duty and reserve – to be obscured.

The decision comes after a former Israeli soldier on holiday fled Brazil last week after a court in the South American country ordered an investigation into allegations by a pro-Palestinian NGO that the soldier was involved in war crimes in Gaza.

According to reports, the soldier arrived back in Israel on Wednesday. The Israeli outlet published an audio interview with him in which he said he had been accused of murdering “thousands of children” in a 500-page document that contained a picture of him in uniform.

Soldiers with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) stand near a military vehicle on March 4, 2024, in southern Israel, near the border with Gaza.

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Israeli military spokesperson Nadav Shoshani referenced the case in a briefing on the measures, which he said were to make sure Israeli personnel were “safe from these types of incidents” involving “anti-Israel activists around the world.”

Those at the rank of colonel and below can be filmed only from behind, with their face obscured, and only the first initial of their name can be used, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Military personnel with foreign citizenships – in combat and non-combat roles – need to have their faces obscured and cannot disclose their full names in interviews.

The new protocols apply to all combat zones, and soldiers being interviewed cannot be linked to a specific combat operation, the IDF said.

A former senior officer in Israel’s Judge Advocate General’s department told CNN last week that there was a growing number of attempts overseas to bring charges against Israelis who had served in the war, but none had resulted in arrest or trial so far.

He said activists were now going after ordinary soldiers, not just high-ranking officers and politicians.