(JPOST).Israel's ambassador to Britain Ron Prosor met with the Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Tuesday afternoon at the Foreign Office following blasted a British attempt to issue an arrest warrant for opposition leader Tzipi Livni this week.
"The current situation is absurd and unacceptable in equal measure," the ambassador said following the meeting. "Israelis cannot continually be held hostage by fringe groups of anti-Israel extremists, preventing politicians, businessmen and officers from visiting the UK.
"Both our countries are on the frontline fighting terrorism, and this fight is too important to allow it to be hijacked by anybody."
Prosor told Miliband that following similar troubling occurrences in recent years, this should now act "as a wake-up call."
"The British Government must take a firm stand to prevent British courts becoming a playground for anti-Israel extremists," he said. "The friendship between Israel and the UK is of crucial strategic importance to both our democracies, and Israel welcomes Britain playing a key role within the Middle East peace process. Yet such a role will be impossible if senior Israeli figures cannot enter the UK without fear of arrest."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also blasted the attempt, saying Tuesday, "We will not agree to a situation in which [former prime minister] Ehud Olmert, [Defense Minister] Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni are sitting on the defendants' bench," the premier said.
"We will not allow IDF soldiers and commanders, who heroically and morally defended our citizens from a cruel and criminal enemy, to be condemned as war criminals," Netanyahu added. "We outright reject this absurdity."
"The current situation is absurd and unacceptable in equal measure," the ambassador said following the meeting. "Israelis cannot continually be held hostage by fringe groups of anti-Israel extremists, preventing politicians, businessmen and officers from visiting the UK.
"Both our countries are on the frontline fighting terrorism, and this fight is too important to allow it to be hijacked by anybody."
Prosor told Miliband that following similar troubling occurrences in recent years, this should now act "as a wake-up call."
"The British Government must take a firm stand to prevent British courts becoming a playground for anti-Israel extremists," he said. "The friendship between Israel and the UK is of crucial strategic importance to both our democracies, and Israel welcomes Britain playing a key role within the Middle East peace process. Yet such a role will be impossible if senior Israeli figures cannot enter the UK without fear of arrest."
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also blasted the attempt, saying Tuesday, "We will not agree to a situation in which [former prime minister] Ehud Olmert, [Defense Minister] Ehud Barak and Tzipi Livni are sitting on the defendants' bench," the premier said.
"We will not allow IDF soldiers and commanders, who heroically and morally defended our citizens from a cruel and criminal enemy, to be condemned as war criminals," Netanyahu added. "We outright reject this absurdity."