JERUSALEM: An Israeli Cabinet minister has called off a visit to Britain because of concerns he could be arrested on suspicion of committing war crimes, a spokesman said Monday, becoming the latest Israeli official affected by a Palestinian legal campaign in the UK.
The decision by Moshe Yaalon, a former military chief of staff who is now a vice prime minister, came a week after Palestinian activists tried unsuccessfully to have Israel’s defense minister arrested during a visit to Britain.
“This is a campaign to delegitimize Israel,” Yaalon said in a statement.
Yaalon called off his trip “to avoid playing into the hands of anti-Israel propaganda,” spokesman Alon Ofek-Arnon said.
Several Israeli officials have been threatened with legal action in Britain under the legal principle of “universal jurisdiction,” which says that some crimes are so heinous that they can be prosecuted locally, even if they are alleged to have been committed elsewhere.
Palestinian organizations have used the principle to pursue Israeli officers who have taken part in operations against Palestinian fighters in which civilians have been killed. The campaign has failed to have Israeli officials arrested so far but is marring Israel’s ties with Britain, an ally.
Israel dismisses any allegations that its forces have acted improperly. But it has been worried enough about the legal efforts to have Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu raise the issue with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown at an August meeting.
Yaalon was invited to an upcoming fundraiser for a Jewish charity and consulted legal advisers, who warned that he faced possible charges over his involvement in the 2002 assassination of a Hamas leader that killed 14 other people, including nine children. That led to his decision to cancel the visit, his spokesman said.
In December 2007, Israeli Public Security Minister Avi Dichter, a former chief of the Shin Bet internal security agency, turned down an invitation to visit Britain after being advised he could be arrested for his role in the same assassination.
Earlier this year, a Spanish court shelved a judge’s investigation into the 2002 airstrike, siding with prosecutors who said Spain lacked jurisdiction.
