Livni's reprieve
The threat to arrest Tzipi Livni if she landed in England this week is an abomination. The warrant was issued by a judge in a local court at the request of a Palestinian, charging Livni with "war crimes" because she was a member of the Olmert Government when Operation Cast Lead took place in Gaza in 2008. Fortunately she was forewarned and cancelled her trip, although she said it was cancelled for other reasons. It is obviously a misuse of the "general jurisdiction" power that British courts have in cases of human rights abuses elsewhere in the world. But, Livni is a politician from a friendly democratic state, she is leader of the opposition in the Israeli Knesset, and has no such crimes alleged against her.
The Israeli Government views such attempts to politicize the British legal system with cases against Israeli leaders as a supreme example of selective anti-Israel activity. Apparently all politicians from throughout the world can enter London except Israelis! The British Government apologised at the highest levels, first FM David Miliband and then PM Gordon Brown called Livni. They assured her that she would be able to enter the UK without any hindrance, but when? An unexpected outcome of this notoreity was that it made Livni popular once more in Israel.
The Israeli Government is disturbed with the British in that this situation has been discussed at the highest levels several times over a period of years, and nothing was done about it. It was reported today that in future all such "political" cases in the UK would first have to be approved by the FM before they could be allowed to go into effect. In that way the Government could prevent the misuse of the provisions without actually directly interfering in the legal process itself.
Britain is a hotbed of anti-Israel activity. There is general Union opposition to Israel, cloaked under the rubric of leftist anti-"occupation" activity, and this has led to many attempts to have anti-Israel boycotts. The British Government has advised stores that they can now legally distinguish between Jewish and Arab produce from the West Bank, Arab produce is allowed and Jewish is not. If that isn't a case of outright discrimination, when the political outcome of the West Bank territory has not yet been decided, what is? Recently the UK supported the Swedish move to divide Jerusalem and to unilaterally establish a Palestinian State. Further there are all sorts of anti-Semitic articles in the British press, including a recent one in which a reporter accuses Israelis of killing each other "all the time." Yes, it is ignorant and stupid, but it is typical. Following some members of the Israeli Knesset, we Jews should boycott Britain and its products until the anti-Semitic atmosphere in Britain changes, if ever.
The Israeli Government views such attempts to politicize the British legal system with cases against Israeli leaders as a supreme example of selective anti-Israel activity. Apparently all politicians from throughout the world can enter London except Israelis! The British Government apologised at the highest levels, first FM David Miliband and then PM Gordon Brown called Livni. They assured her that she would be able to enter the UK without any hindrance, but when? An unexpected outcome of this notoreity was that it made Livni popular once more in Israel.
The Israeli Government is disturbed with the British in that this situation has been discussed at the highest levels several times over a period of years, and nothing was done about it. It was reported today that in future all such "political" cases in the UK would first have to be approved by the FM before they could be allowed to go into effect. In that way the Government could prevent the misuse of the provisions without actually directly interfering in the legal process itself.
Britain is a hotbed of anti-Israel activity. There is general Union opposition to Israel, cloaked under the rubric of leftist anti-"occupation" activity, and this has led to many attempts to have anti-Israel boycotts. The British Government has advised stores that they can now legally distinguish between Jewish and Arab produce from the West Bank, Arab produce is allowed and Jewish is not. If that isn't a case of outright discrimination, when the political outcome of the West Bank territory has not yet been decided, what is? Recently the UK supported the Swedish move to divide Jerusalem and to unilaterally establish a Palestinian State. Further there are all sorts of anti-Semitic articles in the British press, including a recent one in which a reporter accuses Israelis of killing each other "all the time." Yes, it is ignorant and stupid, but it is typical. Following some members of the Israeli Knesset, we Jews should boycott Britain and its products until the anti-Semitic atmosphere in Britain changes, if ever.
posted by Jack Cohen at 6:43 PM
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