THE UK GOVERNMENT’S DHIMMITUDE AND COWARDICE: ROBIN SHEPHERD

Posted By on March 4th, 2010

Britain to announce no early remedy for universal jurisdiction procedures used against Israelis
http://www.robinshepherdonline.com/britain-to-announce-no-early-remedy-for-universal-jurisdiction-procedures-used-against-israelis/#more-2251
According to a report from the Times of London this morning, the British government is “in no hurry” to change the legal procedures under which Israelis have been targeted for “war crimes” using universal jurisdiction laws.

Several Israeli officials including former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni have in recent months cancelled visits to Britain after pro-Palestinian groups used the universal jurisdiction laws to get courts to issue arrest warrants against them. Universal jurisdiction means that warrants can be issued for alleged transgressions anywhere in the world and not just in the country over which the court would usually have jurisdiction.

According to the Times report, which was drawn from unnamed sources, the government will later today announce a consultation period on the subject, meaning that long delays to any remedy are highly likely:

“Today’s announcement…means that the issue will not be resolved until well after the election, expected in May… The delay is a victory for Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, who has argued that the legal point at stake is too important to rush. Clauses that could have been attached to the Crime and Security Bill now before Parliament have been drafted. Under one, the Attorney-General, not a magistrate, would have to authorise an arrest warrant.”

The Times may in fact be understating the matter. Given that opinion polls suggest that no party may get an overall majority in parliament at the forthcoming elections, the ensuing political chaos would probably push the matter down the political agenda significantly.

My interpretation is that the government is deliberately passing the buck; refusing to take swift and decisive action in the hope either that someone else will have to take responsibility for the decision after the election or at least that it will not have to do anything now that might be perceived as pro-Israeli and which might thus infuriate leftist and Muslim voters in what will inevitably be a knife-edge election.

Cowardice, pure and simple.

To read the Times report, click here:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article7048769.ece

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