IDF reservist Yuval Vagdani was forced to flee Brazil earlier this year after the Hind Rajab Foundation filed a complaint against him alleging "war crimes" committed in Gaza, prompting Brazilian police to seek his arrest and interrogation, Channel 12 reported on Friday.
Vagdani, who survived the Nova music festival massacre on October 7 and later served for months as a reservist in Gaza, told N12 that he felt compelled to fight after the trauma of that day: "I went to fight, but I couldn't stay home - I just couldn't."
Traveling to Brazil as 'post-war trip'
At the beginning of 2024, Vagadni decided to travel to Brazil for what he described as "a post-war trip." However, he soon found himself at the center of a legal drama thousands of miles away from home.
"I arrived at the hostel on a Saturday, after a week-long festival, and woke up to missed calls and a phone call from the Foreign Ministry," he recalled to N12. When he answered, a Mossad agent told him, "You must leave Brazil as soon as possible; legal proceedings are about to be opened against you."
Shortly afterward, Vagdani's brother called, again with a Mossad agent on the line, informing him that a pro-Palestinian organization was pursuing a legal case against him on behalf of a Gaza family.
According to the N12 report, the complaint originated from the Hind Rajab Foundation, an anti-Israel group based in Brussels known for targeting Israelis abroad.
Vagdani recounted that fake online profiles had collected information about him for over a year and a half before filing the complaint after learning he was in Brazil.
"They had already started publishing that I was trying to flee - those posts were in real-time," he said.
When Vagdani reached the airport, he was stopped at border control.
"The officer told me, 'You're not flying, you're coming with me now for questioning,'" he recalled.
He was interrogated about his military service and subjected to a thorough physical search. Ultimately, he managed to deceive local authorities by pretending not to understand English, leading to his release.
Temporary refuge in Argentina
Vagdani and his friends then boarded the last flight to Argentina, where they found temporary refuge. But the ordeal continued there as well, with anti-Israel activists circulating his photo and offering a bounty for his capture, according to N12.
The Israeli Embassy in Argentina then facilitated his immediate transfer to the airport for a flight to the United States and then on to Israel.
According to the report, Vagdani is not the only soldier who has faced similar circumstances in recent months. The IDF has since updated its guidelines for soldiers concerning social media use in light of such incidents.