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Home | Friday 2nd October 2009 | Issue 693

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GIVEN A BARAK-ING

Ehud Barak, Israeli defence minister and ‘genius’ behind the 28 day aerial bombardment of Gaza’s refugee camps last winter (See SchNEWS 661), showed his face at the Labour Party Conference in Brighton this week. But it wasn’t just Gordon Brown who was welcoming him to Britain; he also arrived to a team of UK lawyers - acting on behalf of their Palestinian counterparts - applying for an arrest warrant against him for his involvement in the killing of 1,400 people in ‘Operation Cast Lead’.

Citing the precedent of the ICC ruling which issued an arrest warrant for Sudan’s president for war crimes in Darfur, legal teams applied for a warrant through the City of Westminster magistrates court this week. But Attorney Tayab Ali confirmed on Tuesday (29th) that the application had been denied, with the judge citing the immunity tendered to senior foreign officials, not to the mention the fact that he was hobnobbing with Gordy down in Brighton.

However his presence didn’t go entirely unnoticed. With little more than 12 hours notice a national demo was called, and some 50 people turned up late Tuesday night (29th) to protest against an even more unwelcome than usual guest at the party conference.

* See www.palestinecampaign.org

Keywords: brighton, ehud barak, gaza, israel, labour party


 

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