From : News from Norway.
Oslo AUF (youth movement of the Labour Party) has reported the Norwegian branch of Sar-el to the police.
Oslo AUF filed a formal complaint to the police last Saturday, against the Norwegian branch of Sar-el, a private organization that are involved in the recruitment of personnel to the Israeli army. It is believed that at least twenty Norwegian citizens will serve as volunteers in the Israeli armed forces this year.
Yesterday the leader of AUF in Oslo, Eskil Pedersen, filed a formal complaint to the police against Sar-el. He believes the organization has violated paragraph 133 of the Norwegian criminal code. This paragraph make it a crime for Norwegian citizens to serve as soldiers in foreign armies, during times of war.
There is no doubt in my mind that Sar-el’s activities in Norway is in breach of this paragraph. It is despicable that an organization is involved in the recruitment of Norwegian citizens for an army that is violating the Geneva convention, by launching a preemptive war, says Pedersen to Dagsavisen (Norwegian newspaper).
The head of the Norwegian branch of Sar-el, Lawyer Torger Dahl, told Dagsavisen on Friday that he’s not particullary concerned about being investigated.
I was under investigation in 2002 for the exact same violation, but the charges against me were dropped. The activities of Sar-el is not in breach of this paragraph, because all our recruits work as volunteers says Dahl.
Maybe AUF leader Eskil Pedersen should file a complaint to the proper authorities against all those “New Norwegians” who travel down to Iraq to “serve” in “armies” that violate international treaties every single day? In this article (in Norwegian) a “new citizen” reveals how several of his fellow “new citizens” head down to Iraq to take part in the Jihad against the American “infidels”.
The guy in the article has not been charged with breaching any Norwegian criminal codes. Maybe Eskil Pedersen should look into the case?
1 comment:
Having read a few things about Sar-El, my understanding is that you officially aren't a member of IDF, but a volunteer for the Sar-El organization. You don't get a gun, you're not allowed to wear the uniform outside of the military bases, and you have no salary - no, instead you pay of fee. So from the perspective of international law, a volunteer has the status of a non-combatant, and I doubt supporting any army by doing volunteer labor as a non-combatant would be against that law - otherwise all the e.g. combat medics would get into big troubles, because under international law, they are non-combatants, can't be held POW, and have to provide aid to everyone that needs it, no matter whether "friend" or "enemy", so basically the same legal ground.
Anyway, I would like to hear from you how you assess the status of Sar-El volunteers from an international law perspective.
Post a Comment