Revealed: Shootout Averted Between Brits And Israelis At Heathrow Airport
An Israeli general wanted for war crimes alleged by Palestinians escaped arrest at Heathrow airport in 2005 because British police feared an armed standoff, the BBC reported Tuesday.
Major General (res.) Doron Almog was tipped off about plans to arrest him after he landed in London on September 11, 2005 and refused to get off his plane, staying on board for two hours before returning to Israel.
Palestinian campaigners had lobbied police to arrest him when he traveled to Britain over allegations that he ordered the destruction of more than 50 homes in the Gaza Strip. A British judge had granted an arrest warrant.
The general was traveling to the UK for Jewish social and charitable events, but was tipped off - apparently via the Israeli embassy - about an arrest warrant issued for him before he left the El Al plane on the tarmac at Heathrow.
Police initially decided they were going to detain the general at Heathrow’s immigration control, then take him to a police station before deciding whether to formally arrest him, according to a police log obtained by the BBC.
But faced with the general refusing to leave the plane, the officer in charge John MacBrayne - who more recently flew to Pakistan to probe the death of Benazir Bhutto - could not get confirmation that he could board the flight, as El Al had refused permission.
Concerns regarding international impact
Writing in the log, MacBrayne noted with concern the “consideration (was) that El Al flights carried armed air marshals, which raised issues around public safety.
“There was also no intelligence as to whether Mr. Almog would have been traveling with personal security as befitted his status, armed or otherwise,” he added.
The police chief also voiced concern about the “international impact of a potentially armed police operation at an airport.”
Lawyers representing Almog’s alleged victims condemned the police failure to arrest the general.
“Victims of war crimes allegedly committed by Doron Almog have been very badly let down by Metropolitan Police Service failures to keep Mr. Almog from finding out about the arrest warrant before it was executed, and to arrest Mr. Almog when they had the opportunity to board the plane at Heathrow airport.
“These are serious failures which raise concerns about the effectiveness of the police in cases where international criminal suspects come into the country,” said lawyers Hickman and Rose.
“They also reveal an extraordinary assumption that armed Israelis might engage British police on British soil as they try to make an arrest under a lawful warrant issued by a British judge.”
‘Police allowed to board any plane’
Aviation security expert Chris Yates said police are entitled to board planes, whatever nationality the airline. “Any aircraft of any nationality is not sovereign soil,” he told BBC radio.
“If the police… feel that a crime has been committed or that they have to execute a warrant for someone’s arrest, then they’re quite within their rights to board that aircraft with or without the permission of the pilot.”
When the general returned to Israel the incident was described as an “outrage” by foreign minister Silvan Shalom. Then British foreign secretary Jack Straw subsequently apologized, the BBC reported.
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“Then British foreign secretary Jack Straw subsequently apologized, the BBC reported.”
That’s the least he could have done. If the Israeli general could be arrested then why wasn’t Arafat ever arrested when he travelled?
February 19th, 2008 at 1:52 pmEngland deserves everything they’re in the middle of.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:10 pmTedders - simple answer, really. British Jews aren’t wacko enough to play this obscene,dangerous game that British law allows. No individual British citizen ever filed a international human rights complaint against him.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:12 pmFucking disgusting. Enjoy shari’a, bitches.
February 19th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
Wow! Our supposed best frinds have lost their minds.
February 19th, 2008 at 5:11 pmBritain was once a soverign country in which the rule of law was a fundamental guiding principle (Equal regard under the law irrespective of race or religion. No expropriation of private property without compensation, etc.) It was a nation proud of its soverignty and determined in the enforcement of its laws.
That was once.
This is now. This week we have learnt that the US government lied to my government about the routing of “rendition” flights through British soverign territory. No one lies to friends they respect. “Poodleism” has its rewards. The US wouldn’t dare to do the same thing to France because France insists on behaving like a soverign state.
Now we have this incident. British law incoporates the major human-rights conventions which have criminalized mass reprisals against civilians and the like. First we tip off the suspect. Then we apologise!
Shame on us.
By the way, I think that Britain should stand four-square alongside the US and the other Western democracies in promoting their commonly held values, and where there are common security interests. Pandering to the standards observed by nations who abuse our core values, whether Israel, Pakistan, Burma or the other miriad tribal outfits and tin-pot generalissidoms on this planet, is an entirely different matter.
February 23rd, 2008 at 1:57 am