21/04/2025
🇬🇧🤐🇵🇸🔥..The Israeli foreign minister planned to cut short his secret trip to London this week after it was exposed, but changed his mind when the British government blocked an attempt to secure an arrest warrant for him, sources told Middle East Eye.
A UK-based legal group that sought the warrant for Gideon Saar has meanwhile disputed the government's assertion that the foreign minister had "immunity".
The attorney general's office confirmed to MEE on Thursday that it had blocked an arrest warrant request by legal groups.
Saar's office said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy had informed his Israeli counterpart of the decision.
Middle East Eye revealed on Tuesday that Saar was making a secret trip to the UK this week, later that day reporting that he had met Lammy in London.
Glan director Gearóid Ó Cuinn told MEE his organisation has seen evidence that "Mr Saar made plans to prematurely leave the UK before he was made aware of the attorney general’s decision".
"This was an active intervention by UK authorities to protect an unindicted war criminal in the midst of the ongoing extermination in Gaza," he said.
"We reject the attorney general’s position that Mr Saar has immunity, having submitted to him with our request for consent that, under UK law, immunity applies to heads of state and not foreign ministers," he added.
"Further, the International Court of Justice is clear that immunity is distinct from impunity. Immunity only protects Saar for as long as he remains in high office."
Tayab Ali, director of the ICJP, one of the legal groups who sought the arrest warrant, said: "The rule of law applies to all, regardless of office or nationality."
Source: Middle East Eye
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