Stalked on social media: Israelis accused of war crimes increasingly in danger

The diplomatic battle surrounding the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict came to a head on Thursday when the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Alongside that, the diplomatic front exists a murkier front in the social media realm, where Palestinians and those sympathetic to their cause have attempted to corner Israeli soldiers and intelligence agents. 

On Sunday, the Middle East Spectator Telegram channel published a file it said contained names and contact details of 35,000 Israeli soldiers and members of Israel’s Mossad spy agency. The channel presumably intends to help bring the soldiers and agents to justice outside of Israel after finding their whereabouts based on publicly available information. 

“This phenomenon is not new,” Hilly Moodrick-Even Khen, an expert in international law and chair of the Ariel University Center for the Research and Study of Genocide, told The Media Line. “It began about 20 years ago with the proliferation of universal jurisdiction.”

Universal jurisdiction is a legal principle that allows a state to prosecute individuals for certain crimes even if the crime was committed outside that state and did not involve any citizens of the state.

The principle is based on the idea that certain war crimes and crimes against humanity are so shocking that they are of concern to the international community as a whole. Consequently, any country that has passed laws allowing for the application of universal jurisdiction can pursue justice in the case of such crimes. 

“More and more states have subscribed to the idea that they could invoke universal jurisdiction,” Moodrick-Even Khen said.

As many complaints as possible

In December 2023, International Court of Justice proceedings began against Israel when South Africa accused Israel of committing acts of genocide in Gaza. This social media campaign seems to be part of the same effort, with those behind the campaign hoping to use universal jurisdiction to file as many complaints as possible.

Israel has categorically denied the allegations of genocide and war crimes.

“There is no concrete suspicion because the IDF has a robust legal system that advises units on how to apply the relevant provisions of treaties that regulate the laws of armed conflict,” Moodrick-Even Khen said. “But it is important that the military and civil legal system in Israel be alert about all of the IDF activities and whenever a suspicion arises, conduct an investigation of the suspicions in good faith.”

She said that Israel conducting a good-faith internal investigation would significantly reduce the chances of charges being pressed under universal jurisdiction.

Eyal, an IDF reservist who asked to go by a pseudonym, told The Media Line that photos he had posted online were put on a Telegram channel entitled “Israel Genocide Tracker.”

“I changed my privacy settings now so that no account that I am not familiar with can access my photos,” Eyal said. “My page was public beforehand. But the information they posted about me is not accurate. Much of it is lies. The same goes for friends of mine.”

“I guess it might not be a good idea to travel to Europe anytime soon,” he added.

Spread of hate

Earlier this month, Israeli soccer fans were attacked in Amsterdam after a game played between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ajax Amsterdam Football Club. Footage on social media showed attackers taking Israelis’ passports, allegedly to cross-reference the names online and check whether they had served in the military. 

The IDF forbids soldiers from posting anything about their service on social media without receiving prior approval. “At the very beginning of the war, we were told not to post pictures of where we were in real time but could post them afterward with no telltale signs of where they were taken,” Eyal said. “We were told that even though this is forbidden, the army knows there is no real way to prevent it from happening.”

The Defense Ministry and the military declined to comment on the policy. 

On Sunday, Israel announced that the body of a rabbi working in the United Arab Emirates had been found in the Gulf country several days after the rabbi was reported missing. The Israeli prime minister’s office described the killing of Rabbi Zvi Kogan as a “heinous antisemitic terror incident.”

Kogan had reportedly maintained a high-profile social media presence featuring pictures of his combat military service. Immediately after his death was announced, Israel’s National Security Council published guidelines for Israelis traveling to the UAE, calling them to “avoid posting travel details on social media and posting photos and visit details before the trip and in real-time, including on various groups that focus on tourism abroad.”

It also advised Israelis abroad to set their social media profiles to private. 

Hours later, the council posted an updated travel advisory for Thailand, calling on Israelis to “avoid talking about their military service … or posting content relating to it on social media.”

Soldiers in compulsory service are allowed to travel on leave subject to approval. Travel restrictions for reserve soldiers are much harder to enforce, as are social media restrictions. 

Aaron (not his real name) realized his photos had been posted on the “Israel Genocide Tracker” a few days after they were uploaded. As a soldier in regular compulsory service, he did not receive any reprimand from his commanding officers for posting pictures from his service. 

“We may have been told not to post things,” Aaron told The Media Line. “But our commanding officers themselves were taking pictures right along with us.”

He said that most of the information posted alongside his photos on the Telegram channel was inaccurate.

“They are just being hatemongers, so they make up stuff,” he said, noting that he had not personally received any hateful messages. 

Moodrick-Even Khen said that low- and mid-ranking members of the Islamic State group had been brought to justice through universal jurisdiction in Germany and France. However, the details of carrying out such a case against an Israeli would be tricky. 

“The suspect needs to be brought to trial. A suspect cannot be tried in absentia in such a case,” she said. “There is also a question about how to collect evidence—something Israel will not cooperate with and has no obligation to.”

Regardless of the impracticality of trying individual Israeli soldiers, Moodrick-Even Khen encouraged soldiers to be wary. 

“They should be encouraged not to post because of the danger it poses,” she said. “If they have already, they should carefully consider their travels. The fear of arrest is not unfounded. This is a risk that should not be ignored.”