BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The Palestinian Center for Human Rights on Tuesday condemned a decision by the United Kingdom to grant immunity to Israel's army chief while visiting the country. Lt. General Benny Gantz, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces, arrived in the UK of Tuesday, in the first visit of an Israeli army chief since 1998. The UK government granted Gantz's trip the status of Special Mission, thus granting him immunity from the UK's criminal justice system, PCHR said. Hickman & Rose Solicitors, who represent the victims of General Gantz's actions together with PCHR, said the decision "sends the dangerous message that political considerations will be placed ahead of the rule of law." "Credible evidence exists indicating Mr. Gantz's involvement in the commission of war crimes: these allegations should be investigated and, if appropriate, Mr. Gantz should be prosecuted," PCHR said. "He should not be pre-emptively gr...

Another war criminal rightly worried about travelling outside Israel. Israel’s former Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni has cancelled her trip to South Africa following protests from local pro-Palestinian groups. She was invited by the Jewish Board of Deputies to give a series of talks in Cape Town and Johannesburg later this week. more

Tony Blair the war criminal came back to Westminster today to atone for his crimes against humanity. See another video link here Will the inquiry hold him to account? Don't make me laugh - this is the same British establishment that backed the war in the first place. Indeed the same people who now tell us they woon't release the papers relating too the death of Dr Kelly for 60 years. What kind of sham democracy do we live under?

The British government is trying its best to work out a way in which it can circumvent international law, all in order to protect Israel's war criminals from arrest in the UK. Shame on Miliband. LONDON — Britain's flagship Muslim organization on Wednesday attacked a government pledge to reform a war crimes law used to try to arrest visiting Israeli dignitaries, saying the move could hurt Britain's image in the Middle East. The Muslim Council of Britain said it was "deeply disappointed" that the country's foreign minister, David Miliband, promised to change the law so that judges could no longer issue secret arrest warrants against Israeli officials or military officers, saying the move was biased toward Israel. "You appear to be committing the government to the path of selective compliance with the enforcement of international law," the council's Secretary General Muhammad Abdul Bari wrote in a letter to Miliband. "This is surely not in the ...

As we have been suggesting on this blog for a few months now - Israel's politicians and military personnel need to be very careful where they travel. Yaalon's no-show in London is a victory for the Palestinian liberation movement and the friends and relations of the dead, although it has to be said it is unlikely anything would have happened to him given that defence minister Ehud Barak wasn't arrested last week on his little trip to the Labour Party conference. Israeli minister and former military chief Moshe Yaalon cancelled a UK visit because of fears of arrest for alleged war crimes, his office says. Pro-Palestinian groups in Britain want him to face trial over the 2002 killing of a Gaza militant, in which 14 others died, at least eight of them children. Mr Yaalon took legal advice and wanted "to avoid playing into the hands of anti-Israel propaganda", an aide said. more

The international criminal court is assessing whether the Palestinian Authority is enough like at state to be able to bring IDF officers to the Hague to stand trial The deliberations would potentially open the way to putting Israeli military commanders in the dock at The Hague over the campaign, which claimed more than 1,300 lives, and set an important precedent for the court over what cases it can hear. more Meanwhile Iran has asked InterPol to arrest Israeli prime minister Olmert and foreign minister Livni in addition to 12 other Israeli leaders for war crimes. French president Sarkovy continues to bring shame on his country this time by telling the donor conference that his priority ios the release of the Israeli prisoner of war - not the lifting of the blockade on 1.5 million people. Also, the truly atrocious living conditions in the Gaza strip were made worse at the weekend by heavy rain which led to five people dying when a tunnel collapsed. Snow is now falling in parts of Gaz...

An Israeli colonel, Col. (res.) Geva Rapp, involved in Israel's attack on Gaza returned to Israel in haste last week, fearing arrest on charges of war crimes during a visit to the UK. A meeting at which he was due to speak - apparently to justify Israel's mass slaughter of civilians in Gaza -- was cancelled due to a demonstration outside demanding that he be arrested. A loophole in British law allows private criminal complaints of war crimes to be lodged against military personnel, even if they are not British citizens and the alleged crimes were committed elsewhere. Israel is working with the British government to change the law. Story at Jerusalem Post

Demonstration against visiting IDF official today 6pm! Please publicise widely and demonstrate against the Colonel Geva Rapp, deputy commander of the Israeli Ground Forces in Operation Cast Lead against Gaza. This person should be charged for War Crimes and should not be travelling freely in the UK. Day & Date: This Thursday 29th January (today) Time: 6:00pm (Talk starts at 6:30pm) Venue: The Jewish London Student Centre in Euston, 163 Euston Road. Speaker: Colonel Geva Rapp, the head of the ground operations in Gaza (Operation Cast Lead)! from LSE occupation blog

Names and photos of Israeli war criminals - from Kawther Salam's website "I have decided to publish some names and photos of the Israeli military personnel who participated in the so-called “Operation Cast the offensive launched by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) on the Gaza Strip between 27 December and 18 January 2009. The names of these criminals called my attention since the first day of their criminal attack against the Palestinian civilians in Gaza. I consider each person who took part in this IOF and each one whose name appears in this report as a war criminal who should be requested by an international court of justice, just like all other war criminals who were persecuted before… "My decision is a challenge to the State of Israel, to the Israeli attorney general and the military headquarters, who forbade the media from publishing the names of the Israeli officers who lead “Operation Cast Lead” in Gaza, murdering 1310, and wounding over 5600, over 90% of these...