Spain FM says material sent by Israel should help reverse war crime charge

Spain's foreign minister on Saturday told his Israeli counterpart, Tzipi Livni, that Israel should have been more prompt in transferring legal material pertaining to the prosecution of Israeli defense officials in connection with the assassination of Hamas military leader Saleh Shahade in 2002.

"It is a shame that you didn't transfer the material on time," Miguel Mortainos told Livni in a phone call on Friday. He nonetheless added that the material that the Israeli justice ministry did hastily transfer on Friday will serve to reverse the decision.

A Spanish judge on Thursday ruled that Shehade's assassination by an F-16 air strike on his home, which killed 15 people including Shahade's wife and nine children and wounded more than 100, should be investigated as a war crime.

Haaretz has learned that the Justice Ministry began processing the case in July last year, but Israel's reply to Spain was delayed for months. Sources in the Justice Ministry say that formulating a response took a long time, and that the decision to indict in Spain was an "ambush move" that came as a result of Operation Cast Lead.