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Israel's former Navy commander fled UK for fear of arrest

April 12, 2014 at 11:47 am

Israel’s former Navy Commander General Eliezer Marom may have escaped from Britain last October for fear of arrest over charges of committing crimes against humanity during the Israeli attack on the Mavi Marmara freedom Flotilla in 2010, a letter issued by British police has revealed.


In an exclusive interview for Arabi21 news agency British human rights lawyer Tayyib Ali said he requested British police detain Marom upon entering Britain in mid-October 2013 on charges of committing war crimes against the Mavi Marmara passengers in accordance with the universal jurisdiction which allows British authorities to open an investigation and arrest those accused of committing war crimes as soon as they enter British territory regardless of their nationality or the place where they committed the crimes.

Ali said that his office received a letter from “the war crimes team” in the British police on February 25, 2014, informing him that Marom left Britain on October 15, 2013 only a day after he entered the country; pointing out that Marom had chosen to escape the UK once he learned of the arrest warrant against him.

Ali said that Marom was invited to give a lecture entitled “Security during defiance conditions” in Britain “but the British police letter reveals that Marom never attended the lecture which proves that he might have escaped the country fearing he might be arrested”.

Ali said, in a brief statement, “It is clear that Marom was forced to apologise for cancelling the lecture when he decided to flee from the UK.”

This is not the first time a senior Israeli official has been forced to escape from Britain for fear of arrest. In recent years; the former Israeli General Doron Almog fled the country in similar circumstance when he learned of an arrest warrant against him. Almog did not leave the plane that carried him from Tel Aviv to London and flew back on board.

Israel’s former Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz also fled the UK once he learned of a similar complaint against him over his role in the Jenin massacre.

This is however the first time an Israeli official has escaped London over charges relating to the attack against the Mavi Marmara ship.

Under the universal jurisdiction which is applied in more than 16 Western country several arrest warrants have been issued against war criminals most notably Israel’s former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni who fled U.K. after learning of a lawsuit against her filed by Ali and his legal team over her role in the Gaza war .

Ali revealed to Arabi21 in an exclusive interview details of legal efforts to prosecute those accused of crimes against humanity in Egypt that will be published soon. The lawyer noted that that the Israeli general’s action is a direct message to those responsible for crimes in Egypt that justice arm will reach them no matter how long it might take”.