The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled April 17 that former Israeli security chief Avraham Dichter cannot be sued in the US because he is immune under traditional common law. The decision affirms the ruling of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Dichter faced suit by survivors of a 2002 Israeli bombing, the target of which was alleged Hamas leader Saleh Mustafah Shehadeh. Shehadeh was killed along with his wife and nine children when a bomb detonated in a densely populated section of Gaza City. Human rights groups have widely called the attack a war crime. (Jurist, April 17)

Israel will not comply with a UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) investigation into possible war crimes that were committed during recent fighting in the Gaza Strip, according to April 15 statements by Israeli government officials. The probe was originally approved by the UNHRC in January, which recently appointed South African judge Richard Goldstone to head the four member delegation in its fact-finding mission. An unidentified official said that a letter was sent to Goldstone last week, stating that Israel would not comply with the investigation because it doubted the mission's objectivity. Israel also argued that investigation did not focus enough on Hamas hostilities prior to the Israeli incursion into the Gaza Strip. Hamas has said that it will cooperate with the investigation.

Israeli Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu said March 26 he does not expect to come under pressure from the US over the over the policies of his right-wing government. "I think you are talking about something that I doubt existed for any length of time in the past and which I am convinced does not exist today," the Netanyahu told reporters in reply to a question about possible US pressure.

Israel unlawfully and extensively used white phosphorous munitions in their recent Gaza offensive, according to a report released March 25 by Human Rights Watch. The report says that while white phosphorous is allowed to be used to obscure ground operations in open areas and against military targets, international law prohibits air-bursting the shells over populated areas due to the risk it poses to civilians.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said March 19 that it will conduct an internal investigation into reports that Israeli soldiers committed war crimes against Palestinian civilians. The announcement follows soldiers' reports of civilian killings and vandalism under liberal rules of engagement during the recent Gaza Strip operation.

From Amnesty International, March 16:

A group of 16 of the world's leading war crimes investigators and judges—backed by Amnesty International—has urged the United Nations to launch a full inquiry into alleged gross violations of the laws of war committed by both sides during the recent conflict in Gaza and southern Israel.

US peace activist Tristan Anderson, of Oakland, Calif., was critically wounded when he was struck in the head by a tear-gas cannister launched by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank village of Ni'lin, west of Ramallah, March 13. Four Palestinians were also shot with rubber-coated bullets in the incident. Anderson remains in life-threatening condition after undergoing surgery overnight at Tel Hashomer Hospital in Tel Aviv.

Israel accelerated its "illegal annexation" of East Jerusalem last year through municipal and security policies that discriminate against Palestinian residents, according to an internal report by European Union diplomats, dated Dec. 15, 2008, which was obtained by Reuters. The 20-page report acknowledged Israel's security needs but said its "actions in and around Jerusalem constitute one of the most acute challenges to Israeli-Palestinian peace-making."