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The Tzipi Livni Fiasco

(Times-UK) George Walden - The move to get former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni arrested is part of the climate of creeping anti-Semitism in Britain. We do not go in for the hard stuff yet, but whether it is subtly but relentlessly bent TV reporting of the Middle East conflict, or attempts in British universities to deny Israeli academics the freedom of expression notionally protected at the UN by countries such as Cuba or Libya, institutionalized anti-Semitism, assisted now by the law, is gaining ground. Under our pristine, ultra-democratic system (any politically motivated Joe can apply for an arrest warrant under the International Criminal Court Act, 2001) and indulgent lawyers, Britain is a soft touch for propagandistic exercises like the one we have seen. Their minds filled with selective TV imagery of the Gaza conflict, the reaction of many a fair-minded Brit to the idea of seizing a former Israeli minister will be: "Why not?" Glad of the distraction, the Iranians will meanwhile gain a few more days or weeks in which to perfect their nuclear triggers, and to polish the speech we must expect a few months hence, announcing with regretful mien that, though they began with a peaceful atomic program, Israeli threats to Tehran and genocide in Gaza left them with no option but to develop a deterrent. The writer is a former diplomat and Conservative MP.
2009-12-18 08:33:02
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