At the beginning of November 2010, Dan Meridor, Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister, cancelled a visit to London because of increased concerns that he might face arrest in the UK for war crimes. Meridor had arranged to speak at the pro-Israeli Britain and Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) on Monday 1st November 2010. Dan Meridor withdrew from the engagement and cancelled his trip to London because he feared that he would be arrested and face legal action over Israel’s commando attack on a Gaza-bound boat on Monday 31st May 2010. The ship, operating within the Turkey-backed Freedom Flotilla, was carrying humanitarian assistance. The Israeli attack, in international waters, resulted in the deaths of nine Turkish aid workers. Pictures here, here, here, here and here.

AB comment: This latest, London-based, legal threat against an internationally perceived Israeli war criminal follows a Moroccan move on Monday 27th September 2010. Here, a complaint was filed with the chief prosecutor in Rabat, Morocco. It accused Israeli ex-premier Ehud Olmert, Israeli ex-foreign minister Tzipi Livni and Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak of breaching laws to protect civilians and anti-terror legislation, in connection with the Israeli-initiated December 2008 - January 2009 Gaza holocaust (IDF Operation Cast Lead). The group which filed the complaint included French lawyer Liliane Glock, American Stanley Cohen, and three Moroccans: Abderrahim Jamai, Abderrahman Benameur and Mustapha Ramid. More than 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed in the three-week offensive in Gaza. Previously, Morocco had been one of the rare Arab countries to receive Israeli officials despite the absence of formal diplomatic relations.

At little earlier, in the summer of 2010, Ehud Barak, the Israeli Defence Minister, was forced to cancel a trip to France at the last minute to avoid arrest for war crimes in Paris. He had been scheduled to inaugurate the Israeli pavilion at the Eurosatory 2010 Air Salon, an international arms trade fair, during the third week of June 2010. French lawyers and human rights activists were seeking Barak's arrest for international terrorism and war crimes, using supranational legal procedures at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Ehud Barak, on learning this, took legal advice in Israel and cancelled his trip immediately. Israel's government news agencies struggled to suppress, and then gloss, the news. In addition to visiting Eurosatory, Barak was scheduled for top level meetings with the French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner, and with French intelligence chiefs. More here (14.06.10). Eurosatory is a defence industry trade show which is held every two years at the Paris-Nord Villepinte Exhibition Centre.

Ehud Barak has been hunted like a rabbit for some time. In December 2009, genocide charges were filed against him in Austria. The full text of those charges can be found here (pdf file - six pages - German language - Vienna 13.12.09). Ex-Israeli Prime Minister Barak, acting as Israeli Minister of Defence, led the Israel Defence Forces during the 2008-2009 Gaza holocaust. Pictures here, here, here, here, here and here.

The legal action taken against Ehud Barak in Austria, followed that taken against Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni in the UK in 2009. Livni cancelled a British trip at the last moment over fears that she would be arrested in London for war crimes. She was due to speak at the Jewish National Fund Vision 2010 conference in Hendon, north-west London, on Sunday 13th December 2009. She was also scheduled to meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown for private talks. At that time, Tzipi Livni was just the latest senior Israeli politician to avoid visiting Britain for reasons of personal legal safety.

In October 2009, Israel's Strategic Affairs Minister, Moshe Ya’alon, was advised by a special inter-departmental team working with Israeli ministers to pull out of a JNF dinner in London. Experts on international law from the Israeli foreign and justice ministries, and the IDF Attorney-General’s department, advised Israeli cabinet ministers with a security background, and senior Israel Defence Forces officers, not to visit the UK, Spain, Belgium or Norway, while lawyers in these countries were actively using the World Court's universal jurisdiction laws (Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court implemented as complementarity legislation in national laws) to seek the arrest of leading Israelis on war crimes and international terrorism charges. Austria, although a signatory to the Rome Statute of the ICC, and having enacted the pertinent cooperation legislation, had not yet implemented the full Rome Statute complementarity legislation in its national laws. More background here (21.12.09).

Nov. 7, 2010

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