Complaint Filed Against French-Israeli Soldier by Human Rights Groups Over Alleged Torture
“Look, they tortured him to make him talk," a French-Israeli soldier is heard saying of a Palestinian detainee in a video posted online in March.
A coalition of prominent human rights organizations has called on the French authorities for a second time to investigate a French-Israeli soldier, who they name only as Yoel O., for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and torture while serving in the Israeli army in its war on Gaza. The civil complaint was filed today by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Al-Haq, Al Mezan, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), and the Ligue des droits de l'Homme (LDH) with the War Crimes Unit of the Paris Tribunal.
The complaint is based on a video shared in March by Yoel O.’s family member, Samuel, a fellow Israeli soldier, showing Palestinian detainees blindfolded, bound, and dressed in white overalls. The soldier in question, identified by Drop Site News as Yoel Ohnona, can be heard verbally abusing the detainees in French, and boasting about torturing him. He can be heard saying: “Look, he pissed himself. Look, I’ll show you his back, you’re going to laugh. Look, they tortured him to make him talk. Did you see his back? Son of a whore.”
The graphic video was originally uncovered and posted publicly by Younis Tirawi, a Palestinian journalist and Drop Site News contributor:
The French public prosecutor’s office dismissed an earlier complaint lodged against Yoel Ohnona in April that was brought forward by the March 30 Movement, the French Justice and Rights without Borders (JDSF), and Al Jaliya Union of Palestinian Association in France. The office cited “insufficient evidence” in its dismissal. This new civil party complaint aims to overcome what the organizations describe as judicial inertia with witnesses from Gaza.
“The opening of investigations into crimes committed by dual citizens serving in the Israeli army is one of the essential components of the judicial response that must be given to the mass atrocities perpetrated by Israel in Gaza,” stated Alexis Deswaef, lawyer for the plaintiffs and Vice-president of FIDH, and Clémence Bectarte, lawyer and coordinator of FIDH’s Litigation Action Group.
The new testimonies were collected on the ground in Gaza by the Palestinian organizations Al Mezan and PCHR to corroborate the patterns of systematic use of torture against civilians.
When Tirawi asked Samuel about the video at the time it was posted, he was quick to take pride in posting the video saying “I’m very happy that these videos came out, so now you know all over the world that when we catch terrorists we torture them.”
If France takes up the complaint against Ohnona, it would be only the third known country to open an investigation into soldiers serving in the Israeli military for war crimes. In October, both South African and Belgian authorities opened an investigation into Aaron Bayhack and Alon Ben Sira, both dual citizens of their respective countries, for alleged war crimes—as a result of Tirawi’s reporting on a sniper unit of the Israeli military.
Samuel published the videos on a private Instagram group called “We are tearing apart Palestinians.” The picture for the group is an image of a dead Palestinian. When Tirawi noted the legal consequences such a video may pose in France, Samuel remained defiant, saying: “Let them do. I'm in Lyon (France), come! Who's going to sue me lol? I'm waiting for you.”
In a separate group on Telegram where the video was also shared, a user named Yoel, with a profile picture of a soldier, asserts that he is the soldier in the video: “This is a video I filmed, this is my voice in the background and it is from January, friends, not from yesterday.”
Since October 7, 2023, Israel’s military assault on Gaza has claimed the lives of at least 45,000 Palestinians and wounded more than 105,000. As part of its ground assault on Gaza, the Israeli army has continued to take thousands of Palestinian civilians into custody, including children, the elderly, journalists, and healthcare workers, through what is known as the Unlawful Combatants Law. This law has been amended several times by Israeli authorities, with the latest amendment allowing for the detention of individuals without any charges for 30 days and barring them from any access to a lawyer for at least 45 days.
According to Palestinians’ own accounts and videos like Yoel’s, Palestinians are subjected to a myriad of physical and psychological violence during their detentions, including torture, degrading treatment and punishment, enforced disappearance and sometimes death.
All of these constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity, said Issam Younis, Al Mezan’s director, who emphasized the systematic nature of the alleged crimes: "We have provided the French judicial authorities with testimonies from Palestinian victims who endured severe forms of torture while in Israeli custody. These accounts strongly correspond to the methods shown in the video, illustrating the systematic nature of these actions and reflecting a state-sanctioned policy. This evidence underscores the urgent need to address these crimes and pursue legal action at every level, including within national jurisdictions.”
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