A group of Israeli military officials have postponed a trip to the UK, reigniting a diplomatic row between the two countries.
Israeli Defense Force (IDF) officers have delayed a scheduled visit to the UK, fearing they could be arrested and charged with war crimes related to the conflict in Gaza a year ago. A United Nations fact-finding mission said that both Israel and Hamas (the Palestinian political party in charge in Gaza) committed war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 22-day war.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry says the officers were invited to the UK, but will not make the trip until a controversial British law is scrapped. That law gives British courts universal jurisidiction over alleged war crimes, even if they took place abroad and do not involve British citizens. Diplomatic correspondent at the Jerusalem Post, Herb Keinon, says the UK law, undercuts British diplomatic efforts:
"The legal situation that exists in Britain is such that... any citizen can ask a judge to issue an arrest warrant for someone that they allege is a war criminal. And what's unique in Britain is that the British judge does not have inform the Attorney General, or the government ,so that they can weigh in and see whether or not this is something wise politically or diplomatically to do."
A line in the sand
This is not the first incident involving Israeli officials backing out of travel plans to the UK because of the threat of being arrested. In December, Tzipi Livni, leader of Israel's Kadima party and former foreign minister, cancelled her trip to Britain after a UK court issued a warrant for her arrest. The move lead to a diplomatic uproar.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown insisted that Ms Livni is welcome in the UK and vowed to work to have the law changed. But the law remains in place. Israel's foreign ministry, which calls Hamas a terrorist organisation, says the law is being misused to "to take democracies hostage." Mr Keinon of the Jerusalem Post says Israel is drawing a line in the sand by postponing the IDF officer's visit:
"What Israel is saying to the Brits now is, you know what, if you don't change this thing, our relations are going to be harmed because we are just not going to send people to England. Britain wants to have a say in the Middle East , well you are going to have to have Israeli politicians come there. [If] Israeli politicians can't come there, British diplomacy is going to be hurt by this."
The Israeli foreign ministry has not commented on whether other diplomatic trips to the UK will go ahead and there is no indication that the law will be changed any time soon.
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Stop treating Israel with kid gloves. What goes around comes around...and coming it is.
Put it this way, Hiram. if left to the United Nations, no one would be arrested under this ridiculous law anywhere, thereby rendering the proposed solution qed! I agree this is a hilarious proposal, which is why I injected into my letter so as to underscore the insanity of the law in question. As for not being able to laugh very often, Hiram, I'll see what I can do for you in future! In the meantime, Cheer Up, life is too short to be this serious.
Why concentrate only on Israelis?
http://www.oxfam.org.uk/resources/policy/conflict_disasters/downloads/fa...
http://www.stopthewall.org/downloads/pdf/Wall-fc-En.pdf
Why doesn't the UK drop this stupid law and let the Iranians have jurisdiction over it on behalf of the world? This way no Israelis will be arrested. The Pinochet precedent to this sort of application of international justice was a farce, so why bother with further miscariages of justice? Why concentrate only on Israelis when people from all over the world come to the UK on a daily basis? There must be more than a handful who also would come under the provisions of this law, so why are "favourites" being played? The full measures of this legislation if applied, would tie up the British legal system in knots for substantial lengths of time at enormous costs to the British treasury, while alledgedly attempting to solve the world's problems. Let the United Nations and Interpol decide who the real crimminals against humanity are and leave sovereign states to manage their own affairs.
David Berridge, when you made the statement: "Let the United Nations and Interpol decide who the real crimminals against humanity are and leave sovereign states to manage their own affairs.", you made me laugh and I don't do that very often. The United Nations is a den of criminals and the ones that are criminals need to be arrested, first. Personally, I think there are very few honest UN dignitaries and most of them are from the EU.
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