The UK government has confirmed that Israel’s top soldier, Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, was given special diplomatic immunity to visit Britain last month.
Halevi is the Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and has been directing the Israeli military’s operations throughout the Gaza genocide.
He arrived in Britain in late November to discuss “the ongoing conflicts in Lebanon and Gaza” with senior UK officials from the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office. A further meeting was held with Britain’s attorney general, Richard Hermer.
The trip came just three days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant for “crimes against humanity and war crimes”.
Halevi was initially reported to have been included in the ICC’s arrest applications for the crime of having “deliberately starved Palestinians in Gaza”.
While Halevi was not ultimately named in those ICC warrants, it is possible to issue private arrest applications in Britain under universal jurisdiction legislation, which allows for the most serious crimes to be prosecuted regardless of where they are committed.
However, the UK government blocked this avenue for redress by issuing Halevi with a “special mission certificate”, granting him temporary diplomatic immunity for the duration of the visit.
In response to a parliamentary question from Labour MP Brian Leishman, the Foreign Office yesterday admitted it “gave consent for special mission status for the visit to the UK on 24-25 November of Lieutenant General Herzl Halevi… and [his] delegation”.
The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) told Declassified: “It seems beyond belief that the UK attorney general could meet with the head of the IDF, mere days after arrest warrants were issued for Netanyahu and Gallant.
“Halevi may not yet have an arrest warrant himself, but regardless, the International Criminal Court Act 2001 obliges the UK to investigate, arrest and prosecute suspected war criminals.”
ICJP spokesman Jonathan Purcell said it was “utterly reckless” for the attorney general to have met Halevi, “not least as it will undermine the UK’s global position by associating so closely with a pariah state”.
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Special mission status
Israeli officials have feared arrest in Britain under universal jurisdiction proceedings for the past two decades.
In September 2005, a private arrest application was issued for retired Israeli general Doron Almog over alleged war crimes committed in Gaza.
Almog was tipped off about the potential arrest upon arrival at Heathrow airport, and remained on his plane before turning back to Israel.
The incident seemingly marked the first time that an arrest warrant had been issued in Britain for an Israeli national over abuses against Palestinians.
What followed was a years-long campaign by the Israeli government to change Britain’s approach to universal jurisdiction legislation.
The goal was to allow Israeli officials to visit Britain without fear of arrest, particularly those accused of serious abuses against the Palestinians.
In September 2011, David Cameron’s coalition government passed new legislation requiring the consent of the director of public prosecutions (DPP) before universal jurisdiction arrest warrants could be issued.
This meant that it would no longer be possible to issue a private universal jurisdiction arrest application directly to a British court – and it was precisely what the Israeli government had lobbied for.
Leaked files reviewed by Declassified revealed how the Israeli ministry of justice had requested “the consent of the Attorney-General or the DPP before an arrest warrant or summons is issued” in Britain.
Britain’s then foreign secretary William Hague further indicated how the changes were being implemented with Israeli officials in mind. “We cannot have a position where Israeli politicians feel they cannot visit this country”, he declared.
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Protecting Israeli officials
Since the change in law, the UK government has issued over 50 “special mission” certificates to military and political figures from Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Rwanda, and Iran.
16 of those certificates have been issued to Israeli officials including Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni, and the IDF’s former military intelligence directorate chief Amos Yadlin.
Only two “special mission” certificates have been provided to Israeli officials since the onset of the Gaza genocide, with war minister Benny Gantz receiving immunity to visit Britain in March 2024 as well as Halevi last month.
The Foreign Office added: “Government officials from any country can apply for and be granted special mission certificates as part of official visits to the UK.
“A special mission is a temporary mission, representing a State, which is sent by one State to another with the consent of the latter, in order to carry out official engagements on behalf of the sending State”.
