UK amends laws to protect Israelis
Under threats and pressures from Israel, the British government is planning to change its criminal laws to prevent the possible persecution of Israeli officials on war crimes and crimes against humanity charges.
"The procedure by which arrest warrants can be sought and issued without any prior knowledge or advice by a prosecutor is an unusual feature of the system in England and Wales," Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement posted on the ministry's website.
Former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni cancelled on Monday, December 14, a scheduled visit to Britain after Westminster Magistrates Court issued an arrest warrant for her over war crimes committed in the Gaza Strip.
Livni, now the leader of the opposition Kadima party, was scheduled to visit London to address a meeting of British Jews. "Israeli leaders - like leaders from other countries - must be able to visit and have a proper dialogue with the British Government," Miliband stressed.
"The government is looking urgently at ways in which the UK system might be changed in order to avoid this sort of situation arising again." The arrest warrant had triggered fierce criticism from Israel which threatened to exclude Britain from any involvement in the Middle East peace process.
It also threatened that its officials would stop visiting Britain unless London guarantees such a situation would not happen again. Livni was foreign minister when Israel launched its three-week deadly war on the besieged Gaza Strip, killing more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians.
The onslaught wrecked havoc on the densely-populated coastal enclave, leaving some 20,000 homes and thousands other buildings in ruins. A UN fact-finding mission led by renowned South African judge Richard Goldstone, a Jew, has accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza war.
Not Only Livni (aka Zionist Whore)
Legal experts say Livni is not the only Israeli official facing the threat of arrest and persecution in Britain over war crimes. "Two of every three ministers in the cabinet would also likely be arrested and detained in a British jail if they did the same," former Israeli Foreign Ministry legal adviser Allan Baker told the Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
Last September, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak faced an arrest warrant for war crimes in Gaza during a visit to London. In October, Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya'alon was advised to scrap a visit to Britain for fears of arrest for war crimes.
In 2005, Israeli Major General Doron Almog declined to leave his plane in London for fears of being arrested for war crimes. Former army chief of staff Moshe Yaalon also scrapped a visit to Britain over fears of arrest.
Britain is one of several European countries with laws of international jurisdiction, which give courts the right to try anyone suspected of violating international law no matter where the crimes were committed or the citizenship of the suspect.
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