Four senior officers of the Israel Defense Forces, scheduled to visit the United Kingdom this month, cancelled their trip at the last minute for fear of being arrested or indicted on arrival in the country. This follows the recent arrest warrant issued by a UK court against Israel’s former foreign minister, Tzipi Livni. The warrant focused on her role in Israel’s Gaza offensive last year.

By Vessola Evrova

Under the 1988 Criminal Justice Act, UK courts have universal jurisdiction over war crimes and can issue arrest warrants against alleged perpetrators on the basis of a private petition.

The law - which was famously used to detain former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet in 1999 - allows British courts to prosecute alleged perpetrators of genocide, torture and war crimes, regardless of where the crimes were committed. Although the law is not directed specifically towards Israeli officials, Yigal Palmer, spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, calls it a “legal harassment procedure [making it] easy for anti-Israeli groups to create embarrassment to Israeli officials. Hamas officials in London”, says Palmer, “were behind the demand to issue [Livni’s] arrest warrant.”

British prime minister Gordon Brown told Israel he “completely opposed” the warrant issued for Livni’s arrest, and is looking to impose “safeguards” on the current law, including requiring the attorney general’s consent to prosecute.

Lawyers, however, say the government should not interfere in court decisions.
“If there was an arrest warrant against Livni, it’s because there was a case to answer according to a judge who found that there was reasonable suspicion,” solicitor Daniel Machover told The Guardian newspaper.

Download the print version of the International Justice Tribune 97 (PDF file)

Subscribe to the International Justice Tribune