Chief Rabbi Yoel Kaplan faces charges of war crimes in Gaza

TIRANA, Sept. 27 (YPA) – The Albanian government is facing pressure to arrest Chief Rabbi Yoel Kaplan on charges of war crimes in the Gaza Strip.

The Middle East Eye reported that the Albanian authorities had been urged to arrest and prosecute the country’s chief rabbi for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as part of the ongoing genocide in Gaza.

On Wednesday, a case was filed against Kaplan, who holds both Israeli and American citizenship and served as an active-duty soldier in the Israeli army, and is the head of the small Jewish community in Albania, with the public prosecutor in Tirana.

The website added that Kaplan divides his time between “Israel”, Albania, and Thessaloniki, Greece, where he also leads a small Jewish community.

He has been photographed in Gaza, and videos show him wearing a military uniform with the 55th Battalion of the 98th Division of the Israeli army.

The International Center for Justice for Palestinians, a British-based human rights organization, stated on Wednesday that it had “formally notified the Albanian police about an Israeli soldier suspected of involvement in war crimes”.

The International Center for Justice for Palestinians did not disclose the suspect’s name for legal reasons, but sources in Albania confirmed to the website that the suspect is Kaplan.

The chief rabbi of Albania, appointed by the government in 2010 without the consent of a significant portion of the small Jewish community in Albania, is being prosecuted under Article 7 of the Albanian Penal Code, which covers foreign nationals who commit crimes abroad, including “crimes against humanity”.

As a signatory to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, Albania is obligated to investigate, according to the International Court of Justice.