Egypt may petition Hague over 'murder of POWs'

Egyptian foreign minister demands official Israeli investigation into film claiming IDF troops killed 250 Egyptian hostages in Sinai 40 years ago. Officials consider petitioning international court of justice; Israeli ambassador in Cairo under attack

Roee Nahmias
Published: 03.06.07, 14:56 / Israel News

An Israeli documentary suggesting IDF soldiers may have killed Egyptian POWs during the Six Day War continues to cause turmoil in Egypt. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that his country expected Israel to launch an investigation into the allegations made in the movie.

Diplomatic Tension

Ben Eliezer cancels Egypt trip / Roee Nahmias

National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer postpones Egypt visit in light of tensions roused by Israeli film claiming unit under his command in Six Day War killed 250 unarmed Egyptian POWs. Angered Egyptian lawmakers demand Israeli envoy be expelled

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The film in question, titled "Shaked Spirit", was directed by journalist Ran Adelist and broadcast in Israel last week. The film presented the claim that soldiers of the Shaked Reconnaissance Unit, under the command of Binyamin Ben Eliezer, killed 250 Egyptian unarmed captives at the end of the 1967 war.

Channel 1, which aired the documentary, stressed that the movie made an indirect reference to a pursuit "at the end of which 250 dead commando soldiers were counted," and that none of the people interviewed in the film claimed that the men killed were captives.

Ben Eliezer himself stated in the movie that the pursuit was carried out as part of the fighting.

An Egyptian diplomat stated that his country does not rule out the possibility of petitioning the Hague International Court of Justice on the issue. Egyptian newspaper al-Masri al-Youm reported that Egypt has already started documenting all the relevant information, including the testimonies that appear on the movie, in preparation for future actions.

Livni met the Egyptian foreign minister in Brussels Tuesday and stressed to him that "Israel regrets the fact that Egyptian elements are making wrongful and biased use of the movie, without appropriate examination, in a bid to sabotage the relations between the states."

Livni asked Aboul Gheit to make efforts to calm tensions in his country, saying that the film did not claim that the IDF killed captives, but rather that Egyptian soldiers were killed in battle.

On Monday, Aboul Gheit said that "despite the many years that have passed 9since the war), the souls of the Egyptians and the Arabs are still deeply scarred."

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