Israel seeks help of West to stop its officials from being arrested

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has asked European countries for help in confronting the risk of their generals, political and security officials being arrested on charges of war crimes while abroad.

This comes after the Palestinian Authority, along with a number of Muslim states, filed a complaint in the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday demanding that a number of Israeli politicians and military officials be declared suspects of committing war crimes. They also called for their arrest in countries where the law allows for this and for them to be questioned as to their involvement in last summer’s war against Gaza.

Israel says Palestinians have planned a harsh campaign against Israel and that a number of countries who have joined in the complaint are committing grave human rights violations. However, the Palestinian action comes following encouragement from European countries.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely met with some foreign ambassadors and presented Israel’s request. They also accused the UN Human Rights Council of being biased, as it overlooked Hamas’s role in the war, which according to Israel “hid its weapons and fighters amongst civilians, thus putting their lives in danger”.