[JURIST] The Israel Law Center [advocacy website] released a complaint [text, PDF] on Friday asking the US Department of Justice to prosecute several Hamas leaders for their involvement in the attack on Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport (BGA) last summer. The rocket attacks between Israel and Palestine that occurred this past summer lead to the deaths of hundreds of civilians, and compelled the UN to institute a commission [JURIST report] to investigate human rights violations. While the conflict is primarily between Israel and Palestine, the complaint asserts that American jurisdiction over the attacks exists under 18 USC § 37 [text] as the attack was deliberate against an international airport, and several of the victims were US nationals. The Israel Law Center argues that Hamas “targeted missiles at BGA for the express purpose of killing or injuring civilians and disrupting international flight service in and out of Israel,” and, as a result, severely obstructed American air-carriers from continuing their business practices. The complaint stresses that Hamas intended to cause detrimental disruption of the airport, and declared their achievement a “great victory.” The organization called for the US to “obtain indictments, institute efforts to procure the custody of, and commence prosecutions against all responsible parties” and to impose criminal liability on all Hamas members associated with the attack, either as principals or as co-conspirators.

The conflict between Israel and Palestine [JURIST news archives] has lasted for years and caused [BBC timeline] numerous casualties on both sides. In January the Israel Law Center filed a complaint [JURIST report] with the ICC, accusing Palestinian leaders of war crimes including torture, terrorism and civil rights violations. In December Amnesty International [advocacy website] declared that Israel’s air-strikes [JURIST report] on landmark buildings in Gaza were deliberate war crimes that led to the injury of many civilians. In September the Israel Law Center asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] to open an investigation [JURIST report] into war crimes allegedly committed by Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal [BBC profile].