Israeli Sources Deny Report of Arrest Warrant Against Livni in London

Al-Jazeera reports that London judge issues arrest warrant against opposition chairwoman for allegedly committing war crimes during Operation Cast Lead. Livni's office denies canceling her trip to UK for this reason, say: Opposition chairwoman proud of all her decisions on Cast Lead

An al-Jazeera journalist in London reported that an arrest warrant was issued in a London court against Opposition Chairwoman Tzipi Livni for war crimes she allegedly committed during Operation Cast Lead.

A British Jewish community website, JC Online, reported that Livni cancelled her visit scheduled for this weekend out of concerns that pro-Palestinian lawyers would try ask for her arrest.

Earlier Monday, London-based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi also reported that Livni apparently canceled her planned trip due to international pressure to issue an arrest warrant against her.

On Sunday, dozens of demonstrators protested in front of the building where the convention was to be held. The protesters called Livni a "terrorist" and waived flags condemning her expected visit.

Livni was slated to speak at the Jewish National Fund's Vision 2010 conference held in Hendon, northwest of London. According to the report, Livni was also due to meet with Prime Minister Gordon Brown for private talks.

Livni's office denied these reports. Her office reported to Ynet: "The invitation to the annual JNF conference was turned down by us two weeks ago because the schedule meetings with the government figures in London could not take place close to the conference and would have necessitated a longer-than-planned absence from Israel."

Livni's office also said, "The opposition chairwoman is proud of all her decisions regarding Operation Cast Lead. The operation achieved its objectives to protect the citizens of Israel and to reinstate Israel's deterrence capability. Livni will continue to present this stance everywhere in the world.

"Hamas is not a dialogue partner, and we must therefore take forceful action against them, while engaging in negotiations with moderate elements. As such, no comparison between IDF soldiers and terrorists can be made. This is Livni's position whether or not an arrest warrant was issued, which is something we are as of yet unaware of."

The Foreign Ministry reported that it did not recommend that Livni cancel a trip to any destination.

Later Monday, officials in the British Ministry of Justice and Foreign Ministry told Israeli ambassador to London Ron Prosor later Monday that they were not aware of an arrest warrant issued against Livni.

Britain most problematic country
Israeli lawyers consider Britain to be the most problematic country in terms of the possibility for the arrest of senior Israeli leaders.

A few months ago, Defense Minister Ehud Barak visited Britain, and was faced with accusations by local lawyers of committing war crimes. However, Barak was not detained.

In 2005, Major General (res.) Doron Almog arrived in London, but remained on board his plane and was forced to fly back to Israel in fear he will be arrested. The arrest warrant issued against him was later canceled.

Former IDF Chief of Staff Moshe Yaalon postponed a recent trip to Britian following legal recommendations. Since operation cast lead, legal teams headed by the Attorney General office have been facing an increased number of international legal cases against Israeli officials.

Europe: Anti-Semitism up, Islamophobia down

Study on 'group-focused enmity' conducted by researchers from University of Bielefeld in Germany finds hatred of Muslims decreased over past year, while hatred of Jews and homosexuals growing. Poland defined as most racist country

Right-wing parties are growing stronger in Europe, and Swiss citizens have even voted in favor of a ban on mosque minarets, yet the fear or hatred of Islam in the continent has dropped over the past year, according to a study conducted in Germany and published Sunday. However, hatred of Jews and homosexuals is on the rise.

For the last eight years, the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence at the University of Bielefeld has been running an annual study called "German Conditions" to learn about "group focused enmity“ such as xenophobia, sexism, racism, anti-Semitism, and prejudices against unemployed, disabled, homeless or homosexual people in Germany.

Due to the financial crisis and the fears of the future, poverty and unemployment that are being stoked by that, the researchers expected a rise this year.

But compared to last year's results (as well as those of 2002), the level of resentment against most minorities declined – sexism and racism even considerably, Islamophobia slightly. There were only two exceptions: Homophobia and anti-Semitism.

Hatred of both groups is on the rise as they are considered to be found also among people of a high status.

Beate Küpper, one of the study's main researchers, believes that the financial crisis may in fact be a possible explanation for that. Küpper said that although in comparison to other European countries Germany was on average, it was staggering that in the light of German history, 48% still agreed with anti-Semitic statements.

For the first time, the study also compared xenophobia among European countries like Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Poland, and Hungary. According to their findings, the level of prejudices against minorities in Europe is alarming.

About 50.4% of the population agreed that “there are too many immigrants” in their country, 54.4% believe that “the Islam is a religion of intolerance.” Interestingly enough, the percentage of people who believe “that there are too many Muslims” in their country is especially high in those countries that actually have a low percentage of Muslims living in them.

Nearly one-third (31.3%) of the Europeans somewhat or strongly agree that “there is a natural hierarchy between black and white people”. A majority of 60.2% stick to traditional gender roles, demanding that “women should take their role as wives and mothers more seriously.” Some 42.6% deny equal value of gay men and lesbian women and judge homosexuality as "immoral".

Hiding behind criticism of Israel

Anti-Semitism is also still widely spread in Europe. The team of scientists from the universities of Amsterdam, Bielefeld, Budapest, Grenoble, Lisbon, Marburg, Oxford, Padua, Paris, and Warsaw found that 41.2% of Europeans believe that “Jews try to take advantage of having been victims during the Nazi era”. The highest degree of affirmation was in Poland - 72%, and the lowest in the Netherlands – 5.6%.

One-quarter of Europeans (24.5%) believe that “Jews have too much influence“, and nearly one-third (31%) agree that “Jews in general do not care about anything or anyone but their own kind."

On the other hand, 61.9% say that Jews “enrich our culture”, especially in the Netherlands, Britain and Germany.

They study also measured the degree of anti-Semitism hidden behind a specific criticism of Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians that uses anti-Semitic terms such as “war of persecution” and a generalization to “all Jews”.

Some 45.7% of the Europeans (apart for France, where this facet of anti-Semitism was not measured) somewhat or strongly agree that “Israel is conducting a war of extermination against the Palestinians.” About 37.4% agree with the following statement: “Considering Israel’s policy, I can understand why people do not like Jews.”

Overall, the level of anti-Semitic attitudes varies quite a lot across Europe with comparably lower levels of anti-Semitic attitudes in Britain and the Netherlands and significantly higher levels in Portugal, and especially Poland and Hungary.