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(BBC News) – The warrant was granted by a London court at the request of Palestinian plaintiffs, provoking Israeli anger. It was revoked when it was found Ms Livni was not visiting the UK.
Ms Livni was foreign minister during Israel’s Gaza assault last winter. She said the court had been “abused” by the Palestinian plaintiffs who requested the warrant.
In a statement on Mr Miliband said: “Israel is a strategic partner and a close friend of the UK. We are determined to protect and develop these ties. Israeli leaders – like leaders from other countries – must be able to visit and have a proper dialogue with the British government.”
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called Tzipi Livni to
express shock over a warrant issued for her arrest in the U.K. (Haaretz)
UK ambassador rebuked
It was the first time a UK court had issued a warrant for the arrest of a former Israeli minister.
Israel’s foreign ministry summoned the UK’s ambassador to Israel to deliver a rebuke over the warrant.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the situation was “an absurdity”.
“We will not accept a situation in which [former Israeli Prime Minister] Ehud Olmert, [Defence Minister] Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni will be summoned to the defendants’ chair,” Mr Netanyahu said in a statement.
“We will not agree to have Israel Defence Force soldiers, who defended the citizens of Israel bravely and ethically against a cruel and criminal enemy, be recognised as war criminals. We completely reject this absurdity taking place in Britain,” he said.
Israel denies claims by human rights groups and the UN investigator Richard Goldstone that its forces committed war crimes during the operation, which it said was aimed at ending Palestinian rocket fire at its southern towns.
(Haaretz) – Israel Border Police officers shot at an American student’s laptop as she entered Israel via Taba, Egypt, two weeks ago.
Lily Sussman, 21, wrote on her blog that border police subjected her to two hours of questioning and searches prior to shooting her Apple Macbook three times.
“They had pressed every sock and scarf with a security device, ripped open soap and had me strip extra layers. They asked me tons of questions?where are you going?” Sussman wrote, describing the experience.
“Who do you know? Do you have a boyfriend? Is he Arab, Egyptian, Palestinian? Why do you live in Egypt? Why not Israel? What do you know about the ‘conflict’ here? What do you think? They quizzed me on Judaism, which I know nothing about,” she continued.
"I'm sorry but we had to blow up your laptop."
“The security officers did not ask about my laptop prior to shooting it,” Sussman told Daily News Egypt. “They used the word ‘blew up’ when they told me they destroyed my laptop. I don’t know why they shot it.”
Blogger should be happy she was not run over by a caterpillar
Good to see war criminals have a hard time even uif they are of the western favoured war criminal variety.
Bad that the UK government will ammend the law to allow western favoured war criminals to be allowed to wander the earth free. Are the Uk government going to really bow down and take orders from a facist like Netanyahu, not to mention the British “pro-Israel” lobby dudes.
Good to see the facist nature of the Israeli regime is getting reported more. This report makes them sound even more extreme than normal. Just imagine if the apple mac massacre had taken place in Iran…… Front page of every media outlet.
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Universal jurisdiction is the principle that every country has an interest in bringing to justice the perpetrators of grave crimes, no matter where the crime was committed, and regardless of the nationality of the perpetrators or their victims.
It was most famously utilized in the 1998 arrest of former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet on torture charges in London at the request of a Spanish court.
The principle of universal jurisdiction is rooted in the belief that certain crimes, such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture, “disappearance” and extrajudicial executions, are so serious that they amount to an offence against the whole of humanity and therefore all states have a responsibility to bring those responsible to justice.
To fulfill this responsibility, more than three-fifths of all states have enacted universal jurisdiction laws to ensure that their national courts are able to investigate and prosecute persons suspected of committing these crimes, and to ensure that their country is not used as a “safe haven” to evade justice.
International Court of Justice
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
If you’re going to pick someone, why not go with Netanyahoo?
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Were committed on Olmert’s watch in the last months before the election and in the period Justice was on his tail for corruption. Israeli politics and corruption are synonymous of course.
A sitting head of state or PM may have some slack due to immunity clause in Geneva Convention.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."