By Both the Israeli and British governments reacted with shock at the information that Tzipi Livni, former Israeli foreign minister and leader of the opposition party Kadima, was named in an arrest warrant. To avoid arrest, Livni had to cancel an appearance at the Jewish National Fund Conference in London. Livni was one of the Israeli officials who ordered the Gaza holocaust one year ago. To this day, she boasts of her deeds and claims that the Gaza onslaught was a legitimate act. The world disagrees. The world, shocked by the wanton killing, is reluctant to humour Israel while the latter acts as if it were above international law. Lawyers for the Gaza victims have been tracking down Israeli criminals in those European courts that have universal jurisdiction and are therefore entitled to try cases regardless of the nationality of the perpetrator and the venue of the crime. They began doing so before the Gaza holocaust, but had been facing legal obstacles in their quest for international justice. The Gaza holocaust changed the international mood, especially once the Goldstone Report provided uncontested evidence of war crimes. Since then, courts have been more willing to pursue the case against Israeli war criminals. To pre-empt such a prospect, Spain changed its laws to take away universal jurisdiction from its courts, preventing them from ruling on cases not involving Spanish victims or criminals. As for Britain, where courts retain their universal jurisdiction, a court issued an arrest warrant against Ehud Barak in September. He was saved only by his diplomatic immunity, which doesn't apply to former officials. As a result, Livni had no immunity and was liable to arrest. Outraged by the incident, the Israeli government criticised Britain for failing to protect its officials, and said the UK cannot be expected to have a role in the peace process if it continued to act thus. The British foreign minister reacted with contrition, promising to look into the matter and do what is needed to prevent its recurrence. Britain and Israel, however, cannot obstruct the course of justice. The only way to stop British courts from issuing arrest warrants for Israelis is to change the existing law, allowing Israelis immunity from trial. I doubt that the House of Commons would allow this to happen, for such a move would mean violating Britain's international obligations as signatory of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Rome Statute concerning the International Criminal Court, and the 1951 Genocide Convention. Israel is used to acting above the law, but its ability to escape international justice may finally be eroding. This week's Soapbox speaker is former assistant to the foreign minister.
