The face of israeli courage
General Moshe Yaalon cancels London trip after arrest fear over Gaza bombing
James Hider in Jerusalem
The Israeli Deputy Prime Minister has been forced to cancel a fundraising trip to London after lawyers warned that he could be arrested in connection with a deadly attack he authorised in the Gaza Strip seven years ago.
The warning to reservist General Moshe Yaalon, a former head of the army, came a week after a visit to Britain by Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister, was overshadowed by an attempt by a pro-Palestinian group to obtain a British arrest warrant for alleged war crimes committed in the Gaza conflict this year.
While Mr Barak, also a former general, managed to complete his visit to London after the court delayed any immediate decision, Mr Yaalon, a member of Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, was advised by government lawyers that he could face arrest and cancelled the scheduled visit. He had been due to attend a fundraising dinner for Israeli soldiers, according to reports.
The incident that triggered the warning was a 2002 operation in which Israeli jets dropped a massive bomb on the Gaza home of Salah Shehadeh, a prominent Hamas militant leader. The blast killed 14 civilians, including the wanted man’s wife and nine children.
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International lawsuits are causing increasing alarm among senior Israeli officials involved with the country’s military or security apparatus. In 2005 Doron Almog, a former general who was once in charge of the Gaza Strip, was forced to stay inside his aircraft at Heathrow after being tipped off that British police were waiting to arrest him on charges relating to the large-scale destruction of Palestinian homes near the Israeli-controlled border with Egypt.
General Moshe Yaalon cancels London trip after arrest fear over Gaza bombing – Times Online
