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War of Words Continues Over British War-Crimes Warrants

IDF delegation cancels trip

by
Marc Tracy
January 05, 2010

Just when you thought it was safe for senior Israeli political and military officials to travel to Great Britain, a delegation of IDF officers canceled its trip for fear of being arrested on war-crimes warrants of the sort a court there issued against Tzipi Livni last month. The current situation makes it “difficult for the two countries to maintain a normal relationship,” Israel’s deputy foreign minister told British officials (in Jerusalem, wisely). One of those officials, a British attorney general (it has more than one), told a group at Hebrew University that Britain was committed to ensuring that current and former Israeli officials, and, more broadly, current and former Israeli soldiers—which is to say, most Israelis—could feel secure traveling to Britain. If commitments were horses …

Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.