British diplomat Rowan Laxton arrested for alleged Anti-Semitic outburst while watching the news of Israeli war crimes in Gaza

 

News Code: 347331

GMT: 2/9/2009 11:52:34 AM

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British diplomat arrested for ‘anti-Semitic’ outburst

London, Feb 9, IRNA – A high-ranking British diplomat has been arrested over an ‘anti-Semitic’ outburst he made while watching television reports of Israeli massacres in Gaza.

Rowan Laxton, who is head of the South Asia Group at the Foreign Office, is alleged to have shouted profanities against Israel and Jews, including that Israeli troops should be “wiped off the face of the earth.”
According to the Daily Mail Monday, the incident happened while 47-year old Laxton was using an exercise bike at a London gym. He was said to have been arrested after complaints were made to the police.
He has been charged and bailed until late next month for inciting religious hatred through threatening words and behaviour, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment.
The Foreign Office said it was “too early to comment in detail” on a matter that is currently the subject of police enquiries. The diplomat was said to be working normally at his London office.
“We take extremely seriously any allegation of inappropriate conduct on the part of our staff and continue to follow developments closely,” a Foreign Office spokesman was quoted saying.
But when contacted by the Daily Mail, Laxton was said to have denied his comments were anti-Jewish while refusing to answer when asked if they were anti-Israeli.
The career diplomat previously ran the British High Commission in Pakistan for three years before moving as deputy ambassador to Afghanistan in 2001 for two years. He was said to have married a Muslim woman in 2000.
The case comes ahead of the Foreign Office hosting a two-day international conference of parliamentarians from 35 countries next month to combat what is said to have been identified as the “escalating global threat of anti-Semitism.”
Publicity about the event, co-organised by the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism, is being boosted by the attendance of several British cabinet ministers and members of the US Congress.
On Saturday, a British Jewish professor suggested to his co-religionists that the best way to prevent the rise of so-called anti-Semitism was to stop sanctioning Israel’s imprisonment and massacre of Palestinian civilians.
“The simplest, most effective and most moral method to combat anti-Semitism is for British Jews, many of whom are unhappy about shameful Israeli policies, to disassociate themselves publicly from those policies,” said David Mond from Warwick University.
“It will help put paid to the truly dangerous falsehood that what Israel is doing is somehow inherent to Judaism,” the professor of mathematics said in a letter to the Guardian.
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Israeli Colonel Geva Rapp cancells 20 day UK speaking tour out of fear of prosecution for war crimes

 

News Code: 335823

GMT: 2/3/2009 9:47:38 AM

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Israeli commander cancels UK tour fearing arrest for war crimes

London, Feb 3, IRNA – The deputy commander of Israeli ground forces during the recent Gaza massacres has cancelled 20 speaking engagements during a planned tour of Britain, according to the Jewish organisers of his secret visit.

Colonel Geva Rapp was understood to have fled back to Israel fearing a citizens’ arrest for war crimes during his visit to Britain which was aimed to defend the slaughter of more than 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza to members of the country’s estimated 270,000 Jewish community.
“Due to the negative security situation and increasing risk that was steadily brewing around Colonel Geva Rapps’ visit to the UK, our guest has asked us to cancel all further speaking engagements,” said Rabbi Naftali Schiff, executive director of Aish UK educational organisation.
The cancellation was revealed in an internal email obtained by councillors from all four parties on Birmingham City Council, who welcomed the decision after condemning his invitation to Britain’s second largest city as both “offensive and provocative.”
“In view of the massacre of innocent Palestinians in Gaza, including over 400 children, we feel this person should be charged with war crimes instead of being encouraged to travel freely in the UK,” the local councillors said in a statement.
The signatories, all from different wards in Birmingham, included Salma Yaqood from the Respect Party, James Hutchings from the Conservative, Tahir Ali from Labour and Tariq Khan from the Liberal Democrats.
The councillors said they have been very clear in their opposition to anything that would cause division between communities in the city but were “not prepared, however, to be silent in the face of the injustice being done to the Palestinian people.”
“Together we have promoted peaceful and non-violent protest, including a call upon the City Council for it to boycott Israeli goods and services until such time as Israel complies with international law,” their statement said.
Last Thursday night, protesters caused Rapp to cancel a speech at the offices of the Union of Jewish Students in central London, after blocking the public pathways and a main thoroughfare during rush-hour traffic after being tipped off about the visit.
Copies of internal emails seen by IRNA had emphasised that the invitation was “for the Jewish community and known supporters of Israel only.”
“Do not put forward anything connected with this on Facebook, do not forward this email invitation on to mass distribution lists. His presence should only be advertised via personal email/word of mouth within the Jewish community and/or friends of Israel. It should not be openly advertised to the general public,” it warned.
In September 2005, an Israeli major, Doron Almog, escaped arrest at Heathrow airport for war crimes linked to the mass destruction of Palestinian houses, when he refused to leave his El Al plane and immediately fled back to Tel Aviv.
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British MP George Galloway to depart UK Feb. 14 with humanitarian convoy for Gaza

Galloway to Lead Aid Convoy to Gaza on February 14th   Feb 02, 2009

London, (SANA) – British MP George Galloway announced on Monday that he will be leading an aid caravan compiled of a number of trucks loaded with humanitarian aid supplies accompanied by ambulances. The convoy will leave London on February 14th heading for Gaza Strip. Galloway stated that the convoy will arrive on March 9th at the Rafah crossing point after traveling across France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. He added that this initiative expresses sympathy with the Palestinian people and aims at relieving their suffering. The initiative was supported by the “Stop the War” alliance, which organized protests and sit-ins during and after the Israeli aggression on Gaza. H. Sabbagh / A. N. Idelbi

Israel pays family of murdered British journalist James Miller £1.5 million

 

News Code: 334025

GMT: 2/2/2009 10:26:36 AM

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Payout ‘nearest admission’ of Israel’s guilt for killing film-maker

London, Feb 2, IRNA – The family of a British film-maker shot dead by Israeli troops have reluctantly accepted an estimated pay-out of Pnds 1.5 million (Dlrs 2.2 m), saying it was the nearest admission of the Zionist regime’s guilt.

“After five and a half years since his death this is the nearest they are likely to get to an admission of guilt by the Israeli Government,” the family of 34 year old James Miller said in a statement.
Miller was shot in the neck as he was leaving the home of a Palestinian family in Rafah refugee camp in 2003, despite waving a white flag and one of his colleagues shouting: “We’re British journalists.”
His killing preceded the shooting of another British cameraman Tom Hurndall just weeks later in the same area as he was trying to shepherd Palestinian children to safety. He died in London after spending nine months in a coma.
The payment is reportedly the highest damages settlement paid out by Israel’s military to a foreign citizen. It comes after a Pnds 1.8 m out-of-court settlement was offered in April 2008, which the family dismissed as “a ruse” to delay the start of their civil case.
The Israeli soldier who killed him was cleared of misusing firearms in 2005, with the court claiming there was insufficient evidence to press criminal charges, but the following year an inquest in the UK found that Miller was unlawfully killed.
Miller was working on a documentary for an American television network about the impact of fighting on children. His film, Death in Gaza, later won three US Emmy awards and a British Bafta in 2005.
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Journalists and academics demand the BBC quit Gaza over refusal to air ‘Gaza Appeal’

Gaza Strip academics, journalists: BBC out of Gaza

Date: 29 / 01 / 2009  Time:  21:31

Gaza – Ma’an – Palestinian academics and media personnel, as well as international activists, demanded the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) leave the Gaza Strip over its refusal to air an appeal for aid on the network. Academics organized a sit-in near the entrance to the BBC’s office in Gaza, accusing it of bias toward Israel and “its crimes,” as well as denouncing its stance on rejecting to publish an appeal for humanitarian aid for the Gaza Strip on its satellite channel. The BBC said it would not play the appeal due to its policies on neutrality. Protesters demanded that BBC reporters Paul Wallet, Andrew Herill and Paul Martin leave Gaza immediately, threatening to “use the shoes of those killed on them” if they remain in the Strip. Other demonstrators chanted slogans against the BBC’s administration, including General Manager Mark Thompson, accusing him of lying and carrying banners reading, “BBC out of Gaza,” “Boycott BBC” and “BBC: Biased toward Israel and complicit in Israeli war crimes.” British activist Ewa Jasiewicz called for her country to stop supporting Israel, end investment within its borders and boycott Israeli products. She added that many other members of Palestinian solidarity organizations “were eyewitnesses to Israeli crimes in Gaza.” As’ad Abu Sharkh, a university professor in Gaza, said, “The BBC has become a partner to Israel in its war on Gaza.” He insisted the BBC should equally refuse to air threats to “turn Gaza into a larger holocaust more grotesque than that of the Jews,” a reference to Israeli Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai’s statements during the three-week assault, “while refusing to air an appeal on behalf of the very victims of that holocaust.”

UK sends armored vehicles to UNRWA in Gaza, £200,000 to clear unexploded munitions

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UK sends vehicles to aid Gaza relief LONDON, Jan 26 (KUNA) — The UK Government sent three armoured vehicles to Gaza Monday to help the humanitarian relief operation. The specially-modified Toyota Land Cruisers have been donated to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to replace vehicles destroyed by the Israeli offensive against Gaza. They will allow teams of experts to assess the humanitarian needs of Gazans as quickly as possible. Two of the vehicles, which were flown to Israel from Doncaster, will later be loaned to the World Food Programme and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs. UK Ministers have also set aside 200,000 Pounds to support the Manchester-based Mines Advisory Group’s work in clearing unexploded bombs and ammunition in Gaza. UK International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander said: “The situation in Gaza remains extremely grave and there is now a desperate need for food, water and shelter. “The Department for International Development is sending these vehicles to help UN staff to see what’s happening on the ground – an important first step in ensuring that when aid is

British citizens petition EU to revoke Israel’s privileges

News Code: 293321  GMT: 1/5/2009 2:39:47 PM 

  Mass British petition for EU action against Israel 

London, Jan 5, IRNA — A mass petition was launched in Britain Monday calling for the EU to hold Israel to account on its agreements following its bombardment and subsequent invasion of Gaza, in which so far over 500 Palestinians have been killed. 

More than 200 initial signatories, including politicians, professors, lawyers, artists and religious leaders said that they were urging the UK government to revoke its support to give even more privileges to Israel in an upgraded EU deal.

This, they said, should be ‘communicated forthwith to the Czech presidency of the EU in advance of its meeting with the commission’ on an enhanced Israeli trade agreement that was supported by the European Council in December.

In a letter to the Guardian Monday, the petition said it was also calling on the European parliament to ‘refuse to endorse any extension of existing agreements and to use its influence to prevent any upgrades of EU benefits to Israel’.

The new campaign comes after repeated demands for the EU to suspend its current trade deal with Israel by implementing human rights clauses to bring the Zionist regime to account over its systematic killing of Palestinians and seizure of their lands.

The initial signatories are led by two former Labor cabinet ministers Tony Benn and Claire Short and four MPs, Phyllis Starkey, Richard Burden, David Lepper and Jeremy Corbyn.

They also include three Church of England leaders, the Bishop of Exeter Rt. Rev. Michael Langrish, the Bishop of Winchester Rt. Rev. Michael Scott-Joynt and Bishop of Bath and Wells Rt. Rev. Peter Price and no less than 52 professors.

The petition, signed also by human rights experts and lawyers, warned that the EU council of ministers had ignored ‘the fact that Israel was in breach of an ‘essential element’ of the earlier agreement’.

“This required states to respect ‘human rights and democratic principles’, which guides their internal and international policy and constitutes an essential element of this agreement,” it said.

It further pointed out that the proposed upgrade is ‘even weaker and includes no obligations on Israel in respect of its illegal settlements, the illegal wall, and its repeated breaches of international human rights and international humanitarian law’.

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