How an Israeli soldier accused of war crimes in Gaza was tracked down in India

Eitan Gilboa was trekking along the “hummus trail”, like thousands of other Israelis who visit India every year, when he made one mistake: he posted photos online which showed where he was vacationing.

This was a break for the pro-Palestine activists who had been tracking the Israeli soldier. Gilboa’s post, which showed he was in the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, allowed the Hind Rajab Foundation to file a complaint with Indian authorities and demand his arrest.

The foundation is alleging that he committed war crimes in Gaza.

While demands to arrest Israeli soldiers deployed in the Gaza War have been made in other countries, this is the first time that it is happening in India. Scroll spoke to the lawyers and activists behind this campaign to understand how they went about putting together a case against Gilboa.

Though they argue that their complaint is legally sound, they did not expect the Indian government to act on it, given the warm ties between New Delhi and Tel Aviv.

However, they hoped that their initiative would spark a debate on whether Israeli soldiers accused of war crimes should be allowed to vacation in India. The Hind Rajab Foundation even claimed that Gilboa left India soon after they went public with the complaint.

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