Hezbollah-linked Belgian activist files war crimes charges against Israeli journalist

He is being accused of ‘stealing land and walking in the occupied land with an automatic weapon.’

By JNS

A Belgian activist with links to the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group on Saturday filed a war crimes complaint at the International Criminal Court in The Hague against JNS Israel correspondent Akiva Van Koningsveld, accusing him of “criminal activities in the West Bank.”

Dyab Abou Jahjah wants prosecutors to investigate Van Koningsveld for alleged “theft of land and property, embezzlement and threats,” the Brussels-based activist announced in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

In addition, Abou Jahjah instructed his lawyers to file a police report in the Netherlands for alleged violations of the Dutch Weapons and Ammunition Act by Van Koningsveld, a resident of Israel’s Samaria region who held a Dutch passport until several years ago.

The complaint, a copy of which was shared to X by attorney Haroon Raza, accuses the JNS reporter of “stealing land from Palestinians in occupied territory, walking around occupied territory threateningly with automatic firearms and carrying an unauthorized weapon.”

Without sharing details or evidence, Abou Jahjah claimed his filing to the ICC, “substantiated by a comprehensive report from Amnesty International, implicates Mr. van Koningsveld in a range of criminal activities in the West Bank.”

Last week, Abou Jahjah first announced he would be seeking legal action against Israelis “participating in the Gaza genocide or other crimes in Palestine.” In addition to Van Koningsveld, his action has so far targeted five current and former Israeli soldiers of Dutch origin.

He has called on his almost 40,000 X followers to help identify Israel Defense Forces personnel with links to the Netherlands and Belgium.

Asked by JNS whether Israel would provide its citizens with legal assistance, the Foreign Ministry and IDF did not offer comment.

Lebanon’s Al Mayadeen television station, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, said Abou Jahjah was “actively working on additional complaints in the Netherlands and Belgium while exploring new legal avenues.”

Abou Jahjah, a Hezbollah supporter who once posed for a picture in his native Lebanon while holding an AK-47 assault rifle and says he considers “every dead American, British and Dutch soldier a victory,” was banned from the United Kingdom in 2009 over his extremist links.

Abou Jahjah founded a Muslim group that once published on its website a picture of Anne Frank in bed with Adolf Hitler, as well as other caricatures implying that Jews invented the Holocaust.

During a meeting with Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah last month, International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan discussed ways to “deepen our cooperation under the Rome Statute,” the court’s founding charter.

The P.A. in 2015 declared its acceptance of the jurisdiction of the ICC over alleged crimes committed by Israel. However, Israel does not recognize ICC jurisdiction over the so-called “situation in Palestine.”