Jewish Chronicle: 'War crimes arrest law will change next week'
The Jewish Chronicle reports that new legislation preventing UK magistrates from issuing arrest warrants for visiting Israeli officials accused of war crimes is to be unveiled next week.
‘The new legislation will pass the power to issue arrest warrants for prominent figures such as Ms Livni to the Attorney General’, the JC reports.
‘A source close to Justice Secretary Jack Straw (pictured) confirmed that ministerial discussions were in their final stages.
‘Any change to the law would have to be made within days in order to meet the pre-election legislative timetable’, the source explained to the paper.
The Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council, which submitted a legal opinion to the Government proposing that arrest warrants be deferred to the judgment of the Attorney General, said in a joint statement:
“We have had ongoing, intensive conversations with 10 Downing Street and other government departments this week.
“The process has gathered momentum and we have now received a clear indication that a set of remedies to this problem are imminent. As soon as they are communicated to us, we will be reviewing the detailed proposals with our legal advisers to ensure that they achieve what is required."
Any proposed legislative changes to universal jurisdiction provisions has already invited opposition from the 76 MPs (and counting) who have signed an early day motion resisting efforts to restrict the power of British courts.
The early day motion sponsored by Jeremy Corbyn MP states:
‘That this House believes that universal jurisdiction for human rights abuses is essential as part of the cause of bringing to justice those who commit crimes against humanity and will oppose any legislation to restrict this power of UK courts.’
The JC quotes Stuart Polak, Director of the Conservative Friends of Israel, as confirming that the Conservative Party will back the government on the issue.
“As the Shadow Justice Secretary has clearly stated, the Conservative Party is committed to find a solution to the problem and will support the government on any workable and credible solution they develop,” Polak told the paper.
As we argued in an earlier piece, the government’s moves to change the law ‘begs the question of why our response to those terrorist groups and individuals who seek to advance their political goals outside the democratic process, by engaging in indiscriminate violence, is to reject them outright, but when it comes to state sponsored terrorism and the contempt shown by Israeli officials for international law and the legal process, our response is to adapt our legal system to suit their requirements.’
A point of contradiction not lost on Lord Phillips of Sudbury, who in a letter to The Guardian last week referred to the Goverment's 'incomplete and confusing messages' over Israel and Palestine as a 'potent recruiting sergeant for extremism'.
Jonathan Freedland earlier this week argued how our faith in politics has been steadily eroded as evidence given to the Chilcot Inquiry unveils the machinations engaged in by the Blair government to deceptively lead the country to war and successive other crises have shown the corrosive cumulative effect on our body politic.
The government’s attempt to change universal jurisdiction provisions to assuage Israeli officials accused of war crimes and the Israeli lobby will not only serve a further devastating blow to our faith in politics and our politicians, but will, as Lord Phillips states, reinforce the view that 'British policy is one-sided and short-sighted'.