From: <a href="http://www.aftenposten.no/spesial/wikileaksdokumenter/article3950673.ece">Aftenposten</a>

<pre>
4/27/2009
12:55
C O N F I D E N T I A L OSLO 000315
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: 
DECL: 04/27/2019 
TAGS: PREL, PINR, PHUM, IS, NO
SUBJECT: NORWEGIAN LAWYERS SUE ISRAEL FOR WAR CRIMES ABUSES 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Kevin M. Johnson for reasons 1.4 b and d

1. (U)
As widely reported in the international press, a group of
Norwegian attorneys filed with the Public Prosecutor´s Office
a request for the Government of Norway to pursue a war crimes
case against Israeli officials for actions in Gaza. The lead
attorney pressing the matter is a well know human rights
lawyer who has taken cases before the EU Human Rights Court.

2. (C)
The decision of whether to proceed rests with the GON Public
Prosecutor´s Office and the MFA has been at pains to note this
is a purely legal matter for that office to consider. Under a
recent change to Norwegian law, there is now universal
jurisdiction for certain serious offenses such as war
crimes. Thus, technically the Office could choose to move
forward with this. However, to date the Office has not taken
similar cases forward, choosing for example not to prosecute a
Norwegian company involved in Guantanamo several months
ago. This is probably partly driven by the nature of the Chief
Public Prosecutor, Siri Firigaard, who is not prone to
political gestures. It is also driven by the fact that there
are only five prosecutors in the Office and a tremendous
backlog of serious cases, including some war crime cases
against individuals from the Balkans who now reside in
Norway. When post last spoke with Firigaard, she bemoaned
their lack of resources and the overwhelming number of cases
before them. The attorneys filing this request also seem to
doubt they will get far, saying that simply filing the request
makes their point.

3. (C)
The Israeli Ambassador to Norway told Embassy Oslo that the
GOI had mentioned the lawsuit as an item of concern to the
Norwegian MFA´s political advisor, Vegard Ellefsen. This
lawsuit issue is the latest in a string of events which
highlight the Israeli Embassy´s concerns. In early winter
during the Gaza war, Oslo saw a series of large anti-Israel
demonstrations, some of which turned violent. More recently,
the Israeli Ambassador formally protested Norwegian Foreign
Minister Stoere´s decision to stay in the room at the UN
Racism Conference in Geneva during the Iranian President´s
speech. The Ambassador also confidently told us that the
embassy will likely sue the Norwegian National Broadcasting
Company for what they perceive to be very biased news magazine
reporting on Hezbollah and the Gaza war.

WHITNEY
</pre>