July 10, 2010

LONDON, (PIC)-- Pro-Israeli senior officials in the British government are embarking on getting the arrest warrant law changed in order to prevent the arrest of Israeli officials during their visits to the United Kingdom.

The London-based Jewish Chronicle newspaper said on Friday that the issue of Israeli officials' fears of British arrest warrants came to the surface again this week after a high-ranking officer Udi Bin Moha cancelled his travel to Britain to pursue his academic study lest he gets arrested on charges of war crimes.

The newspaper pointed out that the new coalition government in Britain wants to avoid the political controversy that erupted earlier this year following the arrest warrant that was issued by a British court against former foreign minister Tzipi Livni.

British minister of foreign affairs William Hague had pledged after the elections to move quickly to change the arrest warrant law in order to protect Israeli officials (war criminals) and said the situation was unacceptable and must be corrected.

In another context, the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) on Friday warned its businessmen and former senior officials against the risks of being kidnapped and assaulted abroad.

The Israeli premier's office attributed that to information it obtained about threats coming from Hezbollah and Iran, noting that Hezbollah seeks revenge for the assassination of its military leader Imad Mughniyah who was killed in a car bomb in Damascus in February 2008.

It added that Iran, for its part, wants to avenge the death of nuclear physicist Mas'ood Mohammadi who was killed in a booby-trapped bike blast.