Israel appointed a team of international-law experts led by the nation's justice minister to defend its soldiers against any war-crime charges that may follow its 22-day battle against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. "Officers and soldiers sent on the mission in Gaza must know that they are safe from various tribunals and that Israel will help and defend them just as they protected us with their bodies during the military operation," Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in remarks before the weekly Cabinet meeting today.
