UK: ‘Netanyahu has immunity and will not be arrested’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has immunity and will not be arrested during his visit to London next month,” The British Embassy in Israel said yesterday.

Israeli TV Channel One reported the embassy saying in a statement: “According to British law, visiting heads of foreign governments, such as Prime Minister Netanyahu, have immunity from legal process, and cannot be arrested or detained.”

The statement came after thousands of British citizens signed a petition calling for Netanyahu’s arrest when he arrives in London next month.

Official sources in Netanyahu’s office confirmed that Netanyahu is to visit the UK in September as he was invited by his counterpart David Cameron.

Fuad Al-Khuffash, the director of Ahrar Center for Prisoners’ Studies, a rights centre in the occupied West Bank, said that this is a “pre-emptive step by the British embassy.”

Speaking to Anadolu, Al-Khuffash said: “European judiciary and NGOs are facing a real test regarding this issue; especially as Netanyahu personally adopted the latest war on Gaza, in which thousands of Palestinian civilians were killed.”