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Israeli soldier leaves Brazil after Justice orders investigation by the Federal Police (Brazilian FBI).

A 21-year-old Israeli reservist has left Brazil, after the Federal Court ordered an investigation against him for alleged war crimes. The soldier was on vacation in Bahia, but had fought in Gaza. The case led the Israeli authorities to issue a warning to all soldiers that they could be prosecuted abroad for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry explained that it had in fact “accompanied” the soldier's removal from Brazil and had been in contact with him and his family throughout the process. The Palestinian Arab Federation in Brazil explained that soldier Yuval Vagdani “was on tourism in Bahia and his last known location is Morro de São Paulo, in that state.” According to the organization, the soldier is suspected of taking part in the demolition of a residential block in Gaza at the end of 2024, using explosives outside of combat situations. The homes served as shelters for internally displaced Palestinians after the start of the “genocidal” aggression on October 7, 2023.

Former president Jair Bolsonaro criticized the actions of the Brazilian justice system. He republished a post from another account on X (formerly Twitter) that reads: “In 2019, Israel was one of the only countries to send a team to help with the search in Brumadinho. Today, the Brazilian State is deploying the Federal Police to investigate members of the Israeli Armed Forces on vacation in Brazil.”

A column published on Sunday in Haaretz, one of Israel's leading newspapers, says that the case in Brazil has thrown Israel into “panic mode”. “We think Brazil should also investigate the escape route, because it may have been through Paraguay and Argentina, two countries that are once again harbors for war criminals. And we think that Brazil should take into account the list published by the HRF, so that it has the names and identities of these criminals in its archives. When they happen to set foot on Brazilian soil, they should be captured immediately,” said the president of Fepal.

The federation also considers the Federal Court's decision to investigate the Israeli soldier to be the right one, but has also suggested that an internal investigation should be carried out to find out if there was any action or omission by Brazilian public agents in the soldier's departure from the country.