Another trip to London canceled
Another Israeli cabinet minister canceled a trip to London on Monday out of fear of being arrested. The minister was Dan Meridor - probably the most left-leaning non-Labor minister in the cabinet.The Brits promised to amend their universal jurisdiction law after David Cameron was elected Prime Minister so that Israeli officials would no longer be subject to random arrest every time they land in London. It hasn't happened. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
And they want to be taken seriously as players in the 'peace process'? You've got to be kidding.
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:42 PM
2 Comments:
Amusingly, it's the left which is hampered by this, while most rightist politicians can travel freely. This is less of a surprise than it seems - The concessions the Left advocates lead directly to an even bigger war, requiring more massive measures which make lawfare much easier. Worse, to those who want to avoid occupying territory at any cost (i.e. much of the Left) the only recourse left is a controversial bombing campaign, again helping lawfare. Thus this law objectively helps the Israeli right vs the left.
That said, the easiest way to get rid of this law is to get someone to file suits against people from some other countries, e.g. the other NATO countries participating in Afghanistan. When this law becomes harmful to British foreign relations, we'll see just how quickly the British government will amend it.
Israel should stop being accommodating and begin imposing conditions on the visit of British officials to Israel. There is no reason they be accorded the legal freedom to move about Israel while Israeli officials are denied this in the UK. Its time to change Israeli policy.
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