The normally quiet Israel-U.K. relationship faced two fairly substantial hurdles in the past week- the potential arrest of a visiting Israeli official and an impasse requiring labeling of Israeli products sold in British stores.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni cancelled a trip to a speaking engagement in London after a British court issued an arrest warrant for her due to the opposition leader’s involvement in planning Operation Cast Lead, the military campaign launched on the Gaza Strip at the beginning of the year. A pro-Palestinian group reportedly requested her warrant, thereby resulting in the Foreign Ministry cancelling the trip. The British government quickly retracted the arrest warrant (following reports Livni was not in the country) and issued an apology, claiming the U.K. will investigate the case and reaffirmed its desire to work towards Middle East peace.
Separately, the British government recommended shop owners label products manufactured in West Bank settlements so that individual’s wanting to boycott the outposts can effectively do so. The non-binding recommendations tell shop owners to indicate whether settlers or Palestinians manufactured the product.
Oh, and let’s not forget two previous blogs of mine including the anti-Semitic rant from a British man and a video on Israeli checkpoints.
But, all in all, these issues are minor. Just as Israel has “shared values” and shared interests with the United States, the same similarities exist with Israel-U.K. relations, albeit to a lesser extent. While the Arab and Muslim populations in Europe continue to rise, the relationship between the U.K. and Israel may weaken, but we are relatively far from any catastrophic situation.
