On a recent trip to England attempts were made to have Defence Minister Ehud Barak arrested on war crimes. The petition came to the courts, as British law allows a private individuals to bring war crime and genocide charges against anybody irrelevant of normal jurisdictional considerations. The courts had an easy out. They ruled that Barak was a guest of the British government and was entitled to full diplomatic immunity.
While the ruling may have worked for Barak, the same cannot be said about lower ranking politicians and senior military officials, who fear being arrested abroad. The Foreign Ministry has been working closely to make sure they are not arrested on trumped up charges. The Goldstone report gives credability to these charges, even though Judge Goldstone has admitted that his report did not meet the burden of proof for criminal charges. The Palestinian Authority has also admitted that they lack proof outside of the report in order to get indictments from the International Criminal Court.
This week Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon visited the UK. There were protests and calls for his arrest on War Crime charges. There is one huge difference between Ayalon and others who now fear a trip to England. Ayalon was elected to the Government after Operation Cast Lead. He had no more control over the logistics of the war than any other Israeli on the street. Plus it has been years since he has had to do his army service.
Condemning Israel with alleagations that contradict facts on the ground is a common problem. Normally such tactics would reflect negativly on those making the allegations. Normal rules of reason and logic don't apply to Israel.
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