British police failed to arrest Israeli war criminal

Report, PCHR and Hickman and Rose, 21 February 2008

"On 10 January 2002 Israeli bulldozers flattened 59 houses in the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza Strip. Residents fled their homes in heavy rain, most losing all their possessions in the process. Among those made homeless were a number of children who were terrified and traumatized by what happened. It appears that the motive for the destruction was retaliation for an unrelated attack by militants that resulted in the death of four Israeli soldiers. The commanding officer who authorized the demolitions was Major General (Reserve) Doron Almog.

The extensive destruction of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The collective punishment of civilians is also forbidden under the Geneva Conventions. Over the years, many Palestinian civilians have tried to obtain redress, peacefully and lawfully, through the Israeli courts for incidents of this nature. Sadly, the courts have declared these matters to be non-justiciable (itself arguably a further Convention breach).

Offering people who suffer wrongs a route to redress without violence is fundamental to preserving the rule of law. All nations are required to take effective steps to prosecute war crimes irrespective of where they occur.

Doron Almog escapes arrest

On 10 September 2005, Chief London Magistrate Timothy Workman issued a warrant for the arrest of Major General Almog on suspicion of committing a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949 which in the UK is a criminal offense contrary to the Geneva Conventions Act 1957. The arrest warrant was passed to the Anti-Terrorist and War Crimes Unit of the Metropolitan Police, which failed to execute the warrant when Almog, who had been tipped off about the arrest warrant by Israeli embassy staff, refused to leave a plane that had recently landed at Heathrow and police officers decided not to board it to arrest him.

Police complaint lifts the veil

One of Almog's alleged victims, Abdul Matar, made a police complaint about the apparent tip-off to Almog and the failure to board the aircraft to arrest him. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) initially refused even to record the police complaint, let alone investigate it, but, after the IPCC intervened, the shocking details of their incompetence on 10 to 11 September 2005 have been revealed. First, in the lead up to Almog's arrival in the UK:

* Not only did the MPS inform six different police and security agencies of the existence of the "secret" warrant, they also disclosed confidential information to a "Trusted Partner" (thought to be a civilian, but who has not been identified) to advise the MPS on their own conduct.

* The Trusted Partner instructed a lawyer to represent Almog (apparently without naming him) and made inquiries of the local Jewish community in Solihull (which he was visiting) about his schedule.

* The MPS also contacted El Al airline while Almog was in flight to the UK. (El Al later refused the MPS voluntary access to the airplane.)

In these circumstances, it was not surprising that Almog was alerted to the existence of the warrant and so decided not to leave the airplane on 11 September. What is surprising are the reasons why Det. Superintendent MacBrayne and Commander McDowall [i] made the decision not board the airplane...."