LONDON: Human Rights Watch on Monday called Lebanon’s decision to legally assess the killing of Lebanese journalists by Israel a “fresh opportunity to achieve justice.”
Nearly two years after a deadly attack by Israeli forces in southern Lebanon killed Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah, the Lebanese Cabinet instructed the Justice Ministry on Thursday to explore legal options to hold Israel accountable for such attacks.
“Israel’s apparently deliberate killing of Issam Abdullah should have served as a crystal clear message for Lebanon’s government that impunity for war crimes begets more war crimes,” said Ramzi Kaiss, Lebanon researcher at HRW.
“Since Issam’s killing, scores of other civilians in Lebanon have been killed in apparently deliberate or indiscriminate attacks that violate the laws of war and amount to war crimes.”
On the second anniversary of Abdallah’s death, Information Minister Paul Morcos submitted a proposal based on a report by the independent Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research examining the circumstances of the killing.
