Arrest warrant sought for Israeli minister on secret visit to London

Catch up on The Brief, with John McEvoy

Arrest warrant sought for Israeli minister on secret visit to London

This week, Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar secretly visited London and met with UK foreign secretary David Lammy.

According to the Israeli foreign ministry, Sa’ar and Lammy discussed “the full range of regional issues on the agenda, foremost among them the Iranian nuclear issue”.

They also spoke about “the negotiations for the release of the hostages in Gaza” and “advancing bilateral relations between the two countries”.

Not included in the talking points, it seems, were Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law in Gaza or the detention of two British MPs in Tel Aviv last week.

The Israeli government only acknowledged the meeting took place once Sa’ar’s travel plans had been leaked to the press. Britain’s Foreign Office initially did not release any information about it, but has now said Sa’ar met Lammy during a “private visit to the UK”.

It seems likely that Sa’ar sought to keep the visit secret for fear of becoming the subject of an arrest warrant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

While Sa’ar is not currently wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), it is possible to issue private arrest applications in Britain under universal jurisdiction legislation, which allows for the most serious crimes to be prosecuted in another jurisdiction.

Yesterday, Human rights group Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) announced that it is seeking an arrest warrant for Sa’ar, focussing on his alleged complicity in the siege of Kamal Adwan Hospital at the end of 2024.

GLAN’s director Gearóid Ó Cuinn said that “Sa’ar is directly linked to mass death, destruction and suffering in Palestine; we have submitted extensive evidence detailing his role in and awareness of this”.

In October 2023, Sa’ar also declared “Gaza must be smaller after the war, [not only for security reasons, but because] it’s the price of loss that the Arabs understand”.

These were not empty words.

This policy has been carried out by the Israeli government over the past 18 months with ferocity. Nearly 70% of Gaza is currently under Israeli-issued displacement orders or within a “no-go” zone, UN Secretary General António Guterres said two days ago.

IDF chief Israel Katz echoed Sa’ar’s sentiment earlier this week, saying: “Gaza will become smaller and more isolated, and more and more of its residents will be forced to evacuate from the fighting zones”.

Over the past two decades, Israeli political and military figures have been the subject of several private arrest applications in Britain, causing extreme upsetin Tel Aviv.

The UK government has sought to assuage Israel’s fears by granting visiting officials “special mission” certificates, which are designed to offer temporary diplomatic immunity.

In light of his visit with Lammy, Sa’ar may have been given special immunity for his visit this week, though this does not necessarily guarantee him total safety from prosecution.

To this end, it is remarkable that Sa’ar’s visit has received so little political or media attention in Britain. Does the UK press think a secret visit from the foreign minister of a state committing genocide is simply not newsworthy?

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