Why Portugal Shelved a War Crimes Complaint Against an Israeli Sniper

A criminal complaint asking Portuguese prosecutors to arrest an Israeli reservist-sniper, Dani Adonya Adega, under the country’s universal-jurisdiction rules has been quietly shelved, officials have confirmed. A review of court procedure, coalition politics, and foreign-policy calculus shows why Lisbon is sidestepping the case: the Hind Rajab Foundation (HRF) that lodged the complaint is itself controversial; the evidence provided does not meet Portugal’s high legal threshold; and the country’s new conservative government sees no advantage in turning Portugal into a “hunting ground” for the thousands of Israelis who rotate through military reserve duty.

The Complaint—and the Complainant

The case against Adega was built on a 47-page dossier filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation. Launched in Brussels in 2024 after the wartime death of five-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza, the HRF specialises in lodging legal complaints against Israeli soldiers abroad, having already triggered probes in Brazil, Sweden, and Belgium. Its complaint alleges that Adega committed war crimes, citing a social media post where he purportedly bragged about “four kills, zero misses” during a firefight in January.

However, the complainant is as much a focus of the debate as the complaint itself. Israel and several watchdog groups portray the HRF as an anti-Israel pressure outfit. They point to its leadership, which includes Dyab Abou Jahjah, a former Hezbollah supporter once charged with inciting street violence in Belgium, and Karim Hassoun of the Arab European League. The HRF rejects these accusations, insisting it is merely pursuing legitimate “no-safe-haven” litigation. While no independent court has found the NGO itself guilty of violent activity, the controversy surrounding its leadership has made European governments wary.

Lisbon’s Legal Filter: High Bar, Thin Evidence

Portugal’s Criminal Code, under article 5(f), does allow for universal jurisdiction in cases where extradition is not possible and the alleged offence is also a crime in Portugal. Yet the bar for prosecutors to act is high. They require prima-facie proof, or what local magistrates call “serious indications,” that link a specific suspect to a specific criminal act, such as the wilful killing of civilians.

According to legal experts, the HRF file falls short. Its case relies almost entirely on a boastful Instagram caption, without identifying any named victim, a precise date, or a GPS-verified location for the alleged killings. This is unlikely to persuade a Portuguese magistrate to issue an arrest warrant. Furthermore, since a 2024 incident where warrants issued by Belgium for two Israeli festival-goers created a diplomatic firestorm, Portuguese authorities now quietly consult the Foreign Ministry before proceeding with sensitive universal-jurisdiction cases. Officials note that even the International Criminal Court (ICC) has not indicted any ordinary IDF reservist, making it unlikely that a national court would pioneer such a move on thin evidence.

Political Winds: A Country Tilting Right

The decision also cannot be divorced from Portugal’s current political climate. March and May 2025 elections handed consecutive pluralities to the centre-right Democratic Alliance (AD), while the far-right Chega party surged to become a major force in parliament. With immigration, security, and firm alignment with NATO partners topping the new government’s agenda, there is little appetite for foreign legal entanglements.

AD deputies privately express fears that arresting one reservist could open the floodgates to complaints against the “hundreds of thousands” of Israeli teachers, doctors, and engineers who cycle through Gaza reserve duty and who also holiday, study, or invest in Portugal. Meanwhile, Chega has already threatened to torpedo any parliamentary resolutions it deems “anti-Israel.” In this environment, ignoring the HRF’s petition costs the government far less political capital than indulging it.

Strategic Alignment and a Humanitarian Balance

While Portuguese diplomats continue to condemn “all violations of international humanitarian law,” the government’s post-October 7th policy has been clear. In a UN speech, it openly affirmed Israel’s right to self-defence, and in late 2024, the parliament inaugurated an Israel Allies Caucus to signal a long-term partnership on cybersecurity, water technology, and finance. Prime Minister Luís Montenegro’s team has kept close to Washington and London on Middle East policy, resisting EU moves to sanction Israel.

To blunt criticism of this stance, Lisbon has engaged in a humanitarian balancing act. It doubled its 2024-2025 contribution to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) to €10 million and continues to press Israel for unhindered aid corridors into Gaza. Officials argue this demonstrates that they can support Gaza’s civilians without prosecuting every Israeli reservist who passes through their territory.

The Bottom Line

Under Portugal’s current rules and political mood, the case against Dani Adega is highly unlikely to advance unless the HRF supplies hard battlefield evidence or the ICC itself indicts him. For now, prosecutors see too many diplomatic and domestic risks—and not enough proof—to justify an arrest. For both the government and the opposition, the complaint looks less like a pursuit of justice and more like what one AD lawmaker called “legal harassment with geopolitical overtones.” The file, insiders say, will stay in a drawer until something concrete surfaces—or until Portugal’s political winds shift in a very different direction.