GAZA — Avraham Zarbiv, an army reservist and state rabbinical judge who faces a war crimes complaint at the International Criminal Court, was selected to light a torch at Israel's Independence Day ceremony on Tuesday evening. Transport Minister Miri Regev nominated Zarbiv for the torch-bearing ceremony, which concludes Memorial Day with the lighting of 12 torches to mark the start of Independence Day.

In early 2024, Zarbiv, a 52-year-old rabbi and state rabbinical judge, was filmed throwing grenades at Palestinians in Khan Younis during a firefight. He has also recorded videos of himself demolishing Palestinian homes, shared footage of himself taking part in the demolition of homes in southern Lebanon, and delivered sermons from the ruins of Rafah promising victory and settlement.

In recorded remarks, Zarbiv addressed the scale of the fighting and his role in it. "There are tens of thousands of dead," he said. "I am one soldier among many, I am a soldier of the Givati Brigade."

A military spokesperson said Zarbiv was not selected in coordination with the military and was not representing it at the ceremony. In January 2025, The Hind Rajab Foundation, a Belgian-based NGO that seeks to prosecute Israeli soldiers based on video evidence, filed an official complaint against Zarbiv with the International Criminal Court. The complaint alleged that his actions breached the Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute.

"He is a notorious perpetrator of grave international crimes," said Dyab Abou Jahjah, cofounder of The Hind Rajab Foundation. Kerem Navot, which monitors illegal settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, filed a complaint to Israel's judicial watchdog after confirming that Zarbiv built his home illegally on private Palestinian land in the Beit El settlement. The organization accused him of violating the ethics rules for judges and rabbinic judges.

The Israeli rights group B'tselem objected to Zarbiv's selection for a torch at the Independence Day ceremony. "This selection sends a clear message to the citizens of Israel and the entire world: In Israel, genocide, ethnic cleansing, and war crimes are the 'spirit of the nation'," the group said.

Zarbiv, a father of six, serves in reserve duty. His last name has become used as a verb meaning to flatten or obliterate.