Belgian police question two Israelis over war crimes accusations | Belgium

Belgian authorities have said they briefly held and questioned two Israeli citizens who attended an electronic music festival last week, after pro-Palestinian groups accused them of war crimes.

Prosecutors said they had received legal complaints alleging that two Israeli soldiers responsible for “serious violations of international humanitarian law” in Gaza were spotted at the Tomorrowland festival near the northern city of Antwerp.

The federal prosecutor’s office said it had asked the police to locate the two people named in the complaint and to interview them. “Following these interviews, they were released,” it said in a statement.

The office said it had taken action after concluding that Belgian courts had extraterritorial jurisdiction over alleged war crimes. “No further information will be given at this stage of the investigation,” the office said.

The two Israelis have not been named.

Last week, the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF), a Belgian pro-Palestinian organisation, said it had identified two Israeli soldiers “responsible for grave international crimes” in Gaza among the crowds at Tomorrowland.

It claimed that a group of young Israeli men were seen at the festival waving a flag of the Givati Brigade, an Israeli military unit involved in the fighting in the Palestinian territory.

HRF said it had filed a complaint with prosecutors in association with the Global Legal Action Network, a lawyers’ group specialising in human rights violations.

One of the world’s largest electronic music festivals, Tomorrowland draws music enthusiasts from all over the world. About 400,000 people are expected to attend the event this year over two weekends.