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Spain·Israel·Lebanon·United Nations·Armed Conflicts·Human Rights·Diplomacy

Spain's Audiencia Nacional asks prosecutors whether it can investigate Netanyahu over detention of Spanish UN peacekeeper in Lebanon

Friday, 17 April 2026, 18:08 · 1 min read

A judge at Spain's Audiencia Nacional (the country's high court responsible for cases with international dimensions) has asked prosecutors whether the court has jurisdiction to open a criminal investigation into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and military chief Herzi Halevi over the alleged unlawful detention of a Spanish soldier serving with the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (UNIFIL) on 7 April. The case was triggered by a complaint from the political party Iustitia Europa, which described the detention as a deliberate hostile act against a Spanish citizen and argued that Netanyahu could bear command responsibility for the incident, in which the soldier was held for under an hour before being released following diplomatic intervention. Spain's Defence Minister Margarita Robles confirmed the soldier's nationality and said the episode involved violent behaviour, with any formal investigation still pending the prosecutor's opinion on the court's competence to proceed.

Sources
El PaísLa Audiencia Nacional pregunta a la Fiscalía si puede investigar a Netanyahu por la detención de un casco azul español en el Líbano ↗︎
Also covered by
El País [1] [2]
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