[JURIST] A Spanish judge has effectively issued an “arrest warrant” for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu [official website], ordering law enforcement to alert him if Netanyahu sets foot in the country, so that he may reopen the investigation into the 2010 Israeli flotilla attack [JURIST op-ed]. Judge Jose de la Mata, closed the investigation earlier this year as it was not allowed [AP report] under Spain’s universal jurisdiction laws. Mata also listed [LAHT report] other Israeli officials, including “former defense minister Ehud Barak, former foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, former minister of strategic affairs Moshe Yaalon, former interior minister Eli Yishai, minister without portfolio Benny Begin [,] and vice admiral in charge of the operation, Maron Eliezer.”

The May 2010 raid continues to generate controversy. Earlier this year judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC) asked [JURIST report] for the court’s prosecutor to review her decision not to investigate the 2010 Israeli raid of a flotilla headed for the Gaza Strip. Last May a Turkish court called for international arrest warrants [JURIST report] for four former Israeli military chiefs involved in the interception. In 2012 a Turkish court opened the trial [JURIST report] in absentia for the former Israeli military commanders accused of killing nine Turkish citizens aboard the Mavi Marmara as it attempted to pass through the Gaza blockade. The UN criticized [JURIST report] Israel in 2011 for using excessive and unreasonable force during the interception. The UN Security Council called [JURIST report] for a “prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation” into the raid in June 2010.