Thursday, November 4, 2010

Israel suspends 'dialogue' with UK in protest at law that allows British courts to prosecute Israeli officials for war crimes

Israel suspends 'dialogue' with UK
William Hague, the UK foreign minister, has arrived in the region for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders

Israel has postponed all strategic dialogue with Britain in protest at a law which allows UK courts to prosecute visiting Israeli officials for alleged war crimes.

Strategic dialogue between the two countries takes place annually and focuses on defence and security issues.

"The strategic dialogue has indeed been postponed," Yigal Palmor, a foreign ministry spokesman, said on Wednesday.

The development came as William Hague, the British foreign minister, arrived in Israel for a two-day visit on Wednesday.

Read more
Posted by at

5 comments:

  1. Jemmy HopeNovember 4, 2010 at 4:14 AM

    Expect a mealy-mouthed and humiliating statement from Hague.
    Why, I wonder, do these people have to come to the UK? They claim to believe that we're all anti-semites. They don't need to tell the UK government what its policy on Israel/Palestine is, the White House does that for them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. thankgodimatheistNovember 4, 2010 at 4:43 PM

    Jemmy, just in:
    Britain Caves To Israeli Pressure; Agrees To Revoke 'universal Jurisdiction' Law

    In his visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories this week, British Foreign Secretary William Hague reported being 'ambushed' by Israeli officials who cancelled a high-level security briefing with Hague in response to a British threat to arrest an Israeli official for war crimes.
    http://www.imemc.org/article/59826

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jemmy HopeNovember 5, 2010 at 4:04 AM

    "The British Foreign Secretary's trip to the region this week was also criticized by Israeli officials due to the Secretary's decision to meet with Palestinians who recently lost their homes to violent Israeli settler takeovers in East Jerusalem."
    I wonder if he cancelled that.
    Whether or not the government revokes the law the British friends of Palestine - more numerous then the British friends of Israel, but with less money and less clout - will ensure the war criminals have an eventful visit.

    ReplyDelete
  4. thankgodimatheistNovember 5, 2010 at 3:49 PM

    Here Jemmy:
    <span>Action Alert: Tell your MP that war criminals should be prosecuted not welcomed!</span>
    Yesterday, the Foreign Secretary William Hague reiterated the government’s commitment to urgently resolve the “unacceptable situation” with regard to universal jurisdiction during his visit to Israel.  The coalition government want to change the current legislation to give the Director of Public Prosecutions power over issuing arrest warrants against alleged international criminals who visit the UK<span>
    http://palsolidarity.org/2010/11/15402/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+palsolidarity+%28International+Solidarity+Movement%29</span>

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jemmy HopeNovember 6, 2010 at 7:58 AM

    Cheers, TG!
    It should be borne in mind that the last Labour govt. promised to revoke the agreement, but never had the couilles go through with it. Let's see if the current crowd is any more decisive. 

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)