Israel on Tuesday slammed an arrest warrant issued by a British court against former foreign minister Tzipi Livni over her role during the war on the Hamas-run Gaza Strip at the turn of the year.
”The current situation has become intolerable, it is time that it change,” Israeli ambassador to Britain Ron Prosor told army radio.
”I am convinced that the British government will understand that it is time to react and not content itself with declarations.”
The arrest warrant against Livni, current opposition leader, was understood to have been issued by a London court at the weekend and media reports said it caused her to cancel a trip to Britain.
Her office said the trip was cancelled because of scheduling problems.
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office told Agence France-Presse that it was urgently assessing the implications of the 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,” she said. ”To do this, Israel’s leaders need to be able to come to the UK for talks with the British government. We are looking urgently at the implications of this case.”
It marked the latest incident in which British courts have issued, or have been asked to issue, arrest warrants for Israeli officials.
In September, pro-Palestinian activists sought to have Defence Minister Ehud Barak arrested over his role in the Gaza sar, but a court denied the request on the grounds of diplomatic immunity.
In 2005, a retired Israeli general, Doron Almog, avoided arrest in Britain by returning to Israel without leaving the plane that had landed him in London after he learned an arrest warrant had been issued against him. — AFP
