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15/12/2009 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office on Tuesday condemned the arrest warrant issued in the UK against Opposition leader Tzipi Livni.
"We refuse to see a situation in which (former Prime Minister) Ehud Olmert, (Defense Minister) Ehud Barak, and Tzipi Livni are summunded to trial. We will not agree to have Israeli soldiers and commanders, who defended their country and its citizens so bravely and ethically from a nefarious enemy, called war criminals. We reject this absurdity," the statement claimed.
The Israeli PM's Office said Netanyahu's National Security Advisor Uzi Arad made it clear to British Ambassador Tom Phillips that Israel expects the UK to act against this "unethical" phenomenon, which is aimed at "violating Israel's right to defend itself."
Ambassador Phillips was summoned to the Foreign Ministry Tuesday, where Naor Gilon, deputy director for the Foreign Ministry's Western Europe desk, told him that Israeli officials will not be able to visit the UK until the threat of lawsuits and arrest warrants is removed.
Earlier, the Israeli Foreign Ministry called for an end to the "absurd situation" in which arrest warrants were being issued to Israeli officials over alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
"Only actions can put an end to this absurd situation, which would have seemed a comedy of errors were it not so serious," said the Israeli Foreign Ministry, a day after it emerged that opposition leader Tzipi Livni had canceled her trip to Britain after a warrant was issued for her arrest.
Senior officials in Tel Aviv confirmed reports on Monday that a British court had issued an arrest warrant against Livni for her role in orchestrating Israel's military offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip nearly a year ago.
The request for the warrant was submitted by a pro-Palestinian organization.
British sources reported late Monday that though a British court had issued an arrest warrant for Livni over war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza while she served as foreign minister, it annulled it upon discovering she was not in the U.K.
Livni served as foreign minister alongside Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak during the Israeli occupation army offensive in Gaza that killed more than 1400 Palestinians, including 420 children and injured over 5300 others. The three figures comprised the "troika" of top decision-makers who charted the course of the war.
Earlier Monday, Arab-language media reported that Livni canceled her participation in a Jewish function in London after a warrant for her arrest was issued over part in last winter's Israel's Gaza offensive.
Israel's ambassador to London, Ron Prosor, conferred with officials in the British Ministry of Justice who told him that they were unaware of any criminal complaint or arrest warrant against the former Israeli foreign minister. Yet, further inquiries by Israeli officials revealed that a warrant had indeed been issued.
Al-Quds Al-Arabi said on Monday that Scotland Yard advised the organizers of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) conference in northwest London that the former foreign minister had canceled her scheduled address to the assembly over threats of a possible lawsuit by pro-Palestinian groups.
Livni's office claimed in a statement following the report that her appearance at the London event was canceled two weeks ago due to a scheduling conflict. Livni's office also said that the opposition leader was proud of all the decisions she made as foreign minister during the Gaza war, an operation which she said achieved its goal of bring security to Israel.
Livni herself said in September that she was prepared to stand trial at the International Court of Justice in The Hague to defend the actions of the Israeli army. "There have already been petitions against me in various countries," Livni said. "I was a partner to the decisions in the operation in Gaza. They were right, I believe in the morality of the Israeli army soldiers, and if they try to indict me, I am prepared to come say such things if necessary."
The British Foreign Office reacted with great concern to reports of such a warrant. "The UK is determined to do all it can to promote peace in the Middle East and to be a strategic partner of Israel. To do this, Israel's leaders need to be able to come to the UK for talks with the British government," it said in a statement. "We are looking urgently at the implications of this case."
JNF UK chairman Samuel Hayek said it was "regrettable that the British Government is unable to conduct free dialogue with Israel's most senior statesmen and politicians."
Officials in Tel Aviv responded by stating, "We appreciate the British government's desire to play a central role in the Middle East peace process, and thus expect it to translate the significance of its relations with Israel into action.
"Only actions can stop this absurd situation which, but for its severity, could have been called a comedy of errors. Without reparation of what has gone wrong, Israeli officials will not be able to enter Britain and this could exclude it from the circle (of countries) involved in the peace process."
Israel Beiteinu MK David Rotem accused the UK of hypocrisy because it was willing to put Livni on trial for defending Israel from Hamas rocket attacks, while British soldiers who killed innocent civilians in Afghanistan were not arrested.
The Guardian quoted Tayab Ali, an attorney who appealed for the arrest of Barak on behalf of 16 Palestinian clients, as saying that he was "ready, willing and able to act for clients to seek the arrest of anyone suspected of war crimes" who travels to the UK. "We do not comment on individual cases and have nothing to say about news reports of Israeli suspects who cancel arrangements to come to the UK, which is a matter for them," he added.
Friends of al-Aqsa, a British group supporting the Palestinians, were also quoted in the report. "This is an unprecedented move by a British judge, and when one considers the evidence that has been presented over the past year relating to alleged war crimes in Gaza, it is long overdue. This is the first arrest warrant worldwide in the wake of the Gaza war," the group stated.
A United Kingdom court two months ago deferred until further notice an appeal by local pro-Palestinian groups to issue an arrest warrant against Barak, who was visiting the country at the time.
A similar appeal was issued in 2004 against Israel's then defense minister, Shaul Mofaz. At the time, Mofaz was granted immunity from international arrest and trial - a precedent set by the British court, which until then had given such protection only to foreign ministers or premiers.
At the opening of the Knesset's winter session in October, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu responded to calls for the indictment of Israeli leaders and soldiers over Cast Lead, saying that Israel would not allow them to be tried at The Hague.
"We will not agree to a situation in which [former prime minister] Ehud Olmert, [Defense Minister] Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni, who sent IDF soldiers to defend cities and civilians, will be called to the defendants' benches at The Hague," Netanyahu said. "Israel's basic rights to self-defense and to exist as a Jewish state are under continued attack, which has become even stronger following the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead. Our first mission is to repel them."
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