Exclusive: Albania asked to arrest chief rabbi over alleged war crimes in Gaza
Exclusive: Albania asked to arrest chief rabbi over alleged war crimes in Gaza
Albanian authorities are being urged to arrest and try the country's chief rabbi for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed as part of Israel's genocide in Gaza, Middle East Eye can exclusively reveal.
On Wednesday, a case against Yoel Kaplan, an Israeli-American citizen, active Israeli soldier and head of Albania’s small Jewish community, was submitted to the prosecutor general in Tirana.
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 in uniform with the 55th battalion of the Israeli army's 98th division.
The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP), a UK-based rights group, said on Wednesday that it had “filed a formal notice to Albanian police regarding a member of the [Israeli army] suspected of participating in war crimes.”
“We have reason to believe that this individual is currently present within Albanian jurisdiction, and that domestic police must urgently investigate and arrest them,” the statement said. ICJP did not name the suspect for legal reasons.
Sources in Albania confirmed to Middle East Eye that the suspect is Kaplan. In March, the ICJP launched the Global 195 Coalition, an international legal network pursuing Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza.
'I'm very active [in the military] and I think it's the time to be active because if not in this war, when'
- Yoel Kaplan, Albania's chief rabbi
The 98th Division operated in Gaza from around December 2023 until at least August 2024 and was believed to be active around Khan Younis, in the south of the Strip.
MEE reported dozens of civilian deaths while Kaplan’s unit operated in Khan Younis, and much of the city was destroyed or damaged before the 98th Division redeployed to Lebanon in October 2024.
Kaplan’s battalion was active in Khan Younis when Israeli forces shot children and targeted hospitals, ambulances and schools where thousands of civilians had been sheltering.
Albania's chief rabbi, who was appointed by the government in 2010 without the blessing of much of the country's tiny Jewish population, is being pursued under Article 7 of Albania’s criminal code, which covers foreign citizens who commit crimes abroad, including “crimes against humanity.”
As a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ), Albania is obliged to investigate, ICJP says.
The Rabbi’s mission in the Balkans
In September 2024, MEE revealed video footage posted on social media of Kaplan celebrating on top of a tank amid the widespread destruction in Gaza.
“Rabbi Yoel Kaplan, a Chabad Shliach [representative] in Albania, who returned to Israel after 7 October and has been fighting Hamas since the beginning of the war, blows the shofar [ram’s horn] for fellow soldiers in Gaza,” the caption read.
Following that revelation, MEE contacted Kaplan by phone about his role in Gaza.
“I'm very active [in the military] and I think it's the time to be active because if not in this war, when?” Kaplan said, claiming that Israel was fighting “for Jewish families” around the world.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Kaplan and his family later emigrated to Israel, settling in the city of Safed.
He studied at religious seminary in Jerusalem and New York, completing his studies in 1998.
The rabbi is a member of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, one of the largest Hasidic groups in the world, with an estimated 90,000 members.
Its ultra-Orthodox, messianic ideology has often been linked to hardline settler politics. Kaplan has aligned himself with that current, which frames Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and territorial expansion as a divine mission.
In the Balkans, the Chabad movement, which had no presence before Kaplan's arrival in Albania, now has sites across the region.
Rabbi Kaplan left Albania following 7 October 2023 and told MEE he chose to “show up and be part of my [military] unit,” in the upcoming war in Gaza.
When MEE spoke to Kaplan in November 2024, he said he had just come from fighting in Lebanon, which Israel invaded on 1 October that year.
Kaplan on the battlefield
Open-source information shows the 98th Division was withdrawn from Gaza in August 2024 and redeployed to northern Israel in late September, a timeline that matches Kaplan’s account.
In September 2024, Israel’s Channel 14 screened footage of Rabbi Yoel Kaplan standing dressed in full military gear and a gun slung over his shoulder, in front of a tank in Rafah, blowing the shofar (a ram’s horn).
Kaplan saw his role as imbuing soldiers, whom he described as “all this mighty force,” with messianic religious fervour before sending them into battle and sounding for them “the shofar of the Messiah, of the salvation that we are all awaiting and hoping will come.”
He explained that his main mission is “strengthening the spirit of combat.” Kaplan said it was “essential” to explain to soldiers that “they are part of the complete puzzle of the salvation of the people of Israel, of the revival of the people of Israel, and that each of them is carrying out a critical mission.”
Kaplan said rallying the soldiers for war sent “shivers” through him. Following a meeting with his eldest son in Gaza, he declared it was with “great pride for all of Israel that father and son are at war.”
Israel's brief war with Hezbollah, after months of clashes, ended with a ceasefire on 28 November 2024, though Israel has since launched further attacks on Lebanon breaking the ceasefire and killing hundreds.
“This is a big effort we [are putting in] - myself and some of the soldiers I work with, and my son. My eldest son is also an officer… we are doing much,” Kaplan said. “I'm very proud of this.”
“I know that some people will still look at it [the war] not in the right way, but who cares? We are very focused on what we need to do and in the right timing, we are doing it with a big, big privilege,” he said.
When asked to speak about his experiences in Gaza and Lebanon, Kaplan suddenly became hesitant.
'I know that some people will still look at it [the war] not in the right way, but who cares?'
- Rabbi Yoel Kaplan
“It's better not to speak out about the details, you know. Especially not in the media. I prefer not to. It's better these days, especially for myself, since I travel around - better not to point to this part of my experience especially,” he said.
Kaplan may have been concerned because groups such as the Hind Rajab Foundation and ICJP’s Global 195 Coalition are targeting Israeli political and military figures accused of war crimes, building cases for international courts.
In January, the Israeli military restricted active-duty soldiers from posting on social media amid concerns information was being used in court cases abroad.
'I have the support of the Albanian government'
Israeli actions in Gaza have also drawn protests in Albania.
Kaplan laughed off pro-Palestinian protests in Albania as tiny and irrelevant, saying: “You know we say as a joke… bad publicity is still good publicity.”
“I have the support of the [Albanian] government. I think it will affect nothing,” the rabbi said.
When MEE asked if there was tension between his participation in Israel's wars and his role as spiritual leader to Albania’s Jewish community and the wider Balkans, he retorted simply: “No.”
On Albania’s state television RTSH, Kaplan portrays himself as apolitical, a man of peace and interfaith dialogue.
Kaplan repeatedly asked MEE not to report the conversation of his role in the Gaza war, though it remained on the record.
He repeated: “I prefer, you know, not to mention this… from your side. Not to make an issue from this, from this idea… I'm asking you not to mention this and not to put this as part of the interview.”
Kaplan wanted instead to steer the conversation to Jewish life in Albania and the wider Balkans.
On the day MEE spoke to the rabbi, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
“Every Jew, everyone should be upset about this [decision],” Kaplan said.
'I'm not part of your interview'
Asked to respond to the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, Kaplan repeated Israeli government propaganda talking points, long disproven, that Hamas was stealing humanitarian aid.
Kaplan grew flustered and claimed he had held, in his “ten fingers, babies that were [put] into the oven by the terrorists.” There is no evidence for such claims, which have been widely discredited.
"I have no opinion on this," Kaplan said, in response to a question about whether he believes in a two-state solution with a Palestinian state next to an Israeli one.
When asked about settlements in the occupied West Bank, Kaplan offered to put MEE in touch with the Israeli embassy in Albania.
He said, also, that he had no comment and "no idea" about ICJ and ICC investigations into Israeli leaders and military forces for alleged crimes in Gaza. He said he did not know that soldiers could face liability under Albanian law.
Asked whether there was a tension between serving as an Israeli reservist and being chief rabbi in Albania, Kaplan said: “No, many of the rabbis all over the world are part of this.”
“I'm not interested in speaking about these issues, okay… I'm not part of your interview," Kaplan said. "The interview is over and it didn’t happen from my side. I have nothing to say about this issue and that's it.”
At the time, Kaplan’s WhatsApp profile picture showed him leading troops in Gaza in prayer.
Following the interview, Kaplan immediately deleted the photo. MEE sent Albania’s chief rabbi a request to comment on the legal case now being pursued against him. He has not responded at the time of publishing.
