By IRNA,
London : Foreign Secretary David Miliband has defended the government’s delay in preventing the arrest of Israeli leaders for alleged war crimes by blaming the opposition Conservatives.
“The reason it is not being done in this parliament is that in the period after January to the election, there wasn’t a suitable bill that had cross-party support,” Miliband said.
This was “because the Tories have said they want to support the change on universal jurisdiction but they don’t support the Crime Bill, which would have been the obvious place to put it,” he told a meeting organised by the Movement for Judaism Reform in London.
“So there wasn’t really a legislative vehicle that existed to do it this side of the election,” which is expected to be held on May 6, the foreign secretary was quoted as saying by the Jewish Chronicle Friday.
The government pledged to change the law on universal jurisdiction last December after former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni was forced to cancel a visit to the UK at the last moment when an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes was issued in London.
The dilemma for the government is that it would need the support of Tory MPs as no less than 143 MPs, including 60 from the ruling Labour Party, have declared that they would vote against any change in the law on universal jurisdiction.
Controversial plans to restrict the arrest of Israeli leaders for alleged war crimes have instead been sent to judicial authorities and human rights groups after being told by MPs to consult more widely.
Justice Minister Claire Ward revealed in a written parliamentary reply on Thursday that a copy of the proposal to make warrants subject to the approval of the Director of Public Prosecutions had also been sent to the Jewish Leadership Council.
The delay has caused a diplomatic rift with the Israeli regime, which has been exacerbated by the recent revelations of use of cloned British passports in Mossad’s latest assassination of a Hamas official in Dubai in January.
Tory leader David Cameron, who is favourite to become prime minister after the UK elections, has separately pledged to change the law to prevent Israeli leaders being arrested for alleged war crimes and has also criticised the government for delaying the change.