Israeli general receives diplomatic immunity for UK trip

The UK government has confirmed that Israeli General Oded Basyuk and his delegation were granted special diplomatic immunity to visit the country last month.

According to Declassified, Basyuk heads the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Operations Directorate, which is responsible for preparing the Israeli army for war.

He was present in Gaza during Israel’s most recent offensive and led the decision-making process during last year’s attack on southern Lebanon.

Basyuk’s visit to London on January 22 for meetings at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in Whitehall has been declassified. The meetings involved interrogations of the Israeli general and his delegation after they had concluded their formal discussions.

The UK government has announced that it ‘approved special mission status’ for Major General Oded Basyuk and his delegation to visit the UK on January 21-22 for meetings with officials from the Ministry of Defence, Foreign Office, and Cabinet Office.

The information was provided in response to a question from Brian Leishman, Labour MP for Alloa and Grangemouth.

‘The UK’s granting of diplomatic immunity to senior Israeli officials actively responsible for international crimes against the Palestinian people is not only an insult to the victims of the genocide in Gaza but also a complete disrespect for the rule of law,’ Jonathan Purcell of the International Centre for Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) told Declassified.

Although Basyuk is not currently wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), a special arrest warrant can be issued in Britain under universal jurisdiction legislation, which allows the most serious crimes to be prosecuted regardless of where they were committed.

However, the UK government closed this jurisdictional avenue by granting Basyuk and his delegation a ‘special mission’ and diplomatic immunity for the duration of the visit.

In September 2011, David Cameron’s coalition government introduced a new law requiring the approval of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) before arrest warrants of universal jurisdiction could be issued.

This meant that it would no longer be possible to apply for a specific universal jurisdiction arrest warrant directly to a British court, which is precisely what the Israeli government had lobbied for.

Since the amendment, the UK government has issued more than 50 ‘special mission’ certificates to military and political figures from Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Rwanda, and Iran.

At least 17 of these certificates have been issued to Israeli officials, including Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and Amos Yadlin, former head of military intelligence in the IDF.