The leader of the Green Party of England and Wales has slammed the British government over the Israeli president’s visit to London this week and said he should be arrested.
Zack Polanski, who was elected party leader last week with 85 percent of the members’ vote, told Middle East Eye on Tuesday morning that Isaac Herzog must be arrested when he arrives in Britain.
He described Herzog’s visit as a “brutal insult” to those mourning the “innocent lost” in Gaza.
The Israeli president is expected to arrive in London on Wednesday and meet ministers and senior political figures, although his itinerary has not been confirmed.
Herzog has backed Israel’s military operations in Gaza. In October 2023 he claimed that all Palestinians in Gaza were “unequivocally” responsible for the 7 October Hamas attack.
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“It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved,” he said in remarks that South Africa submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) during its genocide case against Israel.
Polanski told MEE: “Israel are engaging in an ongoing genocide. Everyone involved should be arrested and charged for war crimes.
“It’s a further brutal insult to those mourning the lives of the innocent lost, that President Herzog is being allowed the artifice that this Israeli state are anything like diplomacy as normal.”
Polanski added: “And our government remain entirely complicit.”
Application for arrest warrant
Pro-Palestine campaign group Friends of Al-Aqsa (FOA) announced this morning that it has instructed a legal team to apply for an arrest warrant to be issued for Herzog on “charges of aiding, abetting or procuring direct and indiscriminate attacks on civilians and civilian objects”.
‘Britain has failed to defend and champion the rule of law. There is now an opportunity to correct the failings’
– Friends of Al-Aqsa campaign group
FOA chair Ismail Patel said: “Britain has failed to defend and champion the rule of law. There is now an opportunity to correct the failings and issue an arrest warrant to investigate Herzog’s incitement to attacks on Gaza.
“We have submitted an application to compel UK law enforcement to arrest Isaac Herzog upon entry into the United Kingdom. Every official, no matter how senior, must be held accountable for attacks on civilians.
“There can be no immunity for such grave crimes,” Patel said.
The moves comes after the International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) wrote to Scotland Yard’s war crimes unit on Monday, “demanding that the Israeli president is investigated upon his arrival in the UK, on suspicion of bearing criminal liability for alleged war crimes”.
Secret Israeli visit to UK
In mid-April, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar made a similarly clandestine trip to the UK and met the foreign secretary.
The attorney general blocked an attempt by legal groups to apply for an arrest warrant for Saar.
Herzog’s expected visit comes amid frayed diplomatic relations between Britain and Israel.
New Green leader Zack Polanski wants ‘very strong arguments’ before agreeing to Corbyn pact
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British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told parliament on Monday afternoon that the government intends to make good on its threat to recognise a Palestinian state later this month if Israel does not meet a series of conditions.
These conditions, announced in late July, included that Israel agree to a ceasefire and commit not to annex any of the occupied West Bank.
Israeli ministers have since declared their intention to move toward annexation of large parts of the West Bank.
Netanyahu has accused the UK and other countries pledging to recognise a Palestinian state of siding with Hamas.
More quietly, however, military cooperation has continued.
The government has exempted licences for UK parts for F-35 fighter jets, which are used in Gaza, from an arms embargo on Israel.
Surveillance flights over Gaza, from which Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) gives intelligence to Israel, have also continued.
The MoD has insisted the flights are to aid in hostage rescue, but they are shrouded in secrecy and it is unclear whether the data provided has been used in Israeli air strikes that have killed civilians.
