To believe that Britain was willing to arrest former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni a few months ago in connection with war crimes against the Palestinians would have been naive. The Goldstone Report may have accused Livni, among others, of responsibility for the crimes committed in Gaza starting in December 2008 but the British government was never going to act on such evidence.

Still, the very notion that Livni might have been arrested had she set foot in Britain so rattled the British government that Prime Minister Gordon Brown is now promising to seek legislative changes to ensure no Israeli official would risk arrest while on British soil.
Brown believes there is now significant danger of private arrest warrants for visiting foreign officials being “politically-motivated” and exploited “by individuals who set out only to grab headlines knowing their case has no realistic chance of a successful prosecution.”
After more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed during Israel's Cast Lead operation, more than half of them civilians, the Palestinians are not seeking the bright lights of entertainment but the right to take their case to court, abroad if need be, especially since justice cannot be served in Israel. The conspicuous flaccidity with which the Israeli justice system treats Israeli forces involved in killing and maiming Palestinians has prompted the victim seeking justice to look elsewhere. Israeli courts systematically discriminate against Arabs, whether as defendants or plaintiffs. So Palestinians in the occupied territories seek redress in international courts for their numerous grievances against Israel.
The Israeli onslaught of Gaza also impinges on the law to bring those responsible to justice wherever they may be. The principle of universal jurisdiction holds that some crimes are so grave they can be tried anywhere, regardless of where the offenses were committed. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949, if a person anywhere in the world commits grave breaches against civilians then that person should be arrested and prosecuted wherever they turn up in the world. More specifically, judges in the United Kingdom can issue arrest warrants for war crimes suspects around the world under the Geneva Convention Act 1957 without any requirement to consult public prosecutors.
As such, Livni, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the troika behind the Gaza assault, should be summoned to the defendants' chair. But this trio will almost certainly never stand trial in Britain or anywhere in the West. It seems only Arabs and Muslims should be arrested for war crimes these days. Iraq can be decimated, Afghanistan crippled and Gaza debilitated, however, the West wants war crimes to be the exclusive domain of one race, one faith.
Not wanting to take chances, though, the Israeli government has allocated $1 million to cover possible litigations if Israelis involved in war crimes are arrested and prosecuted in foreign countries. Even as Brown announced attempts to stop political warrants, he said Britain would continue to take action to prosecute or extradite suspected war criminals - regardless of their status or power. We hope this is so. Britain has a proud history of the independence of its courts. The British government cannot dictate what cases private individuals bring to court. Up until now, not even the prime minister can interfere, given the absolute independence of the British justice system