Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni canceled a visit to Britain this weekend over fears pro-Palestinian lawyers would seek to have her arrested.
Ms Livni had been due to speak at Sunday’s JNF Vision 2010 conference in Hendon, north-west London. She had also been expected to meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown for private talks.
But she pulled out of the trip for fear of lawyers obtaining an arrest warrant.
International law experts from the Israeli Foreign and Justice ministries have also advised Israeli officials to avoid Spain, Belgium and Norway, out of fear of similar “universal jurisdiction” arrest warrants for war crimes.
Haaretz reports that an arrest warrant for Livni was in fact issued for her role in last winter’s Israeli attack on Gaza. Although Livni’s office has said she canceled her appearance due to "a scheduling conflict," they also said that "the opposition leader was proud of all the decisions she made as foreign minister during the Gaza war."
