Fearing arrest, Israeli official cancels UK trip

Israel's Vice Prime Minister Moshe Yaalon cancelled a planned visit to Britain over fears of being arrested on possible charges of war crimes against Palestinians in Gaza, his spokesman said on Monday.

Yaalon, a former defense forces' chief of staff, was warned by his legal advisors of possible charges over his involvement in the 2002 assassination of a Hamas leader that killed 14 other people and he cancelled a visit to London to attend a charity event next month.

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Britain’s largest organization campaigning for solidarity with the Palestinian people, welcomed Yaalon’s decision which it said revealed that “war criminals were now nervous about stepping foot on British territory.”

“Yaalon’s decision is the result of campaigners’ resolve in seeking to bring Israeli war criminals to justice,” Sarah Colborne, Director of Campaigns and Operations at PSC, said.

Yaalon’s decision came after an attempt by several lawyers to have a court of justice issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak earlier this week.

She told Al Arabiya that the "PSC issued a statement afterwards expressing concern about a letter of special status Ehud Barak apparently provided to a judge to avoid arrest before arriving in Britain" for a Labour Party conference.

In a press release the PSC reported that "Barak was saved from arrest after the U.K.’s Foreign Office upgraded his visit from private to ‘special status’ – giving him diplomatic immunity from charges of war crimes.”

“Israeli war criminals must not be allowed to come into Britain, walk freely and remain unpunished. We are committed to bringing those responsible for war crimes against Palestinians to justice,” Colborne added.

Yaalon’s decision is the result of campaigners’ resolve in seeking to bring Israeli war criminals to justice

Director of Campaigns and Operations at PSC

Universal jurisdiction

Several Israeli officials have been threatened with legal action in Britain under its “Universal jurisdiction” law, which allows the prosecution of the perpetrators of crimes against humanity wherever they were found.

Pro-Palestinian groups have even used the principle in Spain.

Lawyers for 16 Palestinians sought an arrest warrant for Barak at a British court over alleged war crimes in Gaza but a district judge at the City of Westminster magistrates' court rejected their demands. The Solicitors sought the warrant under the 1988 Criminal Justice Act giving courts in England and Wales universal jurisdiction in war crimes cases.

Advocacy groups sought Barak's arrest for his role in the 22-day assault of Gaza at the end of last year, which resulted in the deaths of 1,400 Palestinians in three weeks.

Israel's air, land and sea assault of the impoverished strip has repeatedly been condemned by human rights organizations as war crimes and most recently the Goldstone Report, released by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, also labeled the war an "injustice."

Israel has consistently rejected accusations of targeted killings of Palestinian civilians, but repeating threats of legal actions against its officials in Britain was worrying enough to prompt Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to raise the issue with the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown last August.

“There are a whole range of lawyers in this country who are keen at bringing charges against war criminals,” Colborne concluded.

There are a whole range of lawyers in this country who are keen at bringing charges against war criminals

Sarah Colborne