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href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/did-war-crimes-summons-force-tzipi-livni-cancel-brussels-trip">https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/did-war-crimes-summons-force-tzipi-livni-cancel-brussels-trip</a></font>
<h1 id="reader-title">Did war crimes summons force Tzipi Livni
to cancel Brussels trip?</h1>
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<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label
skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Ali Abunimah</a></span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single" property="dc:date"
datatype="xsd:dateTime"
content="2017-01-19T18:52:55+00:00">19 January 2017</span></span><br>
</p>
<p>Israel’s former foreign minister <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/tzipi-livni">Tzipi
Livni</a> has canceled a visit to Brussels scheduled
for next week.</p>
<p>The news comes as Belgian prosecutors confirm that
Livni was due to be questioned in an ongoing
investigation for war crimes.</p>
<p>Livni was expected in Brussels on 23 January for a
conference at the European Parliament, but she pulled
out citing illness.</p>
<p>Israeli officials, <a
href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/6811578/Israeli-opposition-leader-Tzipi-Livni-cancels-London-visit-over-prosecution-fears.html">including
Livni</a>, have a <a
href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/oct/05/israeli-minister-moshe-yaalon-visit">history</a>
of <a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/fear-of-arrest-still-prevents-israeli-officials-from-visiting-britain.premium-1.433452">cancelling</a>
foreign visits if they fear arrest.</p>
<p>Thierry Wertz, a Belgian prosecutor, <a
href="http://www.lesoir.be/1419954/article/actualite/monde/2017-01-19/l-israelienne-tzipi-livni-aurait-du-etre-interpellee-lundi-bruxelles">told
the newspaper <em>Le Soir</em></a> that federal
judicial authorities “planned to take advantage of Tzipi
Livni’s visit to try to move the investigation forward.”</p>
<p>According to <em>Le Soir</em>, Wertz’s comments
indicate that prosecutors planned to formally summon
Livni for questioning.</p>
<h2>Evading justice</h2>
<p>Livni is the subject of a complaint by victims filed in
Brussels in 2010 for war crimes during “Operation Cast
Lead” – Israel’s assault on Gaza in December 2008 and
January 2009 that killed more than 1,400 Palestinians.</p>
<p>Association Belgo-Palestinienne, a Palestine solidarity
group, said in a <a
href="http://www.association-belgo-palestinienne.be/infos/breves/lancienne-ministre-israelienne-tzipi-livni-interceptee-pour-crimes-de-guerre/">press
release</a> that the complaints have been brought
against several Israeli leaders in connection with the
attack on Gaza.</p>
<p>It notes that Livni was a full participant in decision
making at the time of the assault.</p>
<p>Livni herself <a
href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2010/05/13/i-lost-everything/israels-unlawful-destruction-property-during-operation-cast-lead">told</a>
Israeli media in January 2009: “Israel demonstrated real
hooliganism during the course of the recent operation,
which I demanded.”</p>
<p>The Goldstone Report, the independent UN-commissioned
inquiry into the assault, also <a
href="http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/12session/A-HRC-12-48.pdf">quotes
Livni</a> stating: “Israel is not a country upon which
you fire missiles and it does not respond. It is a
country that when you fire on its citizens it responds
by going wild – and this is a good thing.”</p>
<p>Israel claims that the assault on Gaza was a response
to missiles fired by Palestinian armed groups, but the
Israeli government’s <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/content/israels-fabricated-rocket-crisis/7927">own</a>
<a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ben-white/numbers-speak-themselves">chronology</a>
shows that an agreed ceasefire that had been effective
for months only collapsed after <a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nancy-kanwisher/reigniting-violence-how-d_b_155611.html">Israel
broke it</a> by launching several deadly attacks on
Gaza in early November 2008.</p>
<p>It then carried out its major assault on Gaza that had
been <a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/news/disinformation-secrecy-and-lies-how-the-gaza-offensive-came-about-1.260347">in
the works for six months</a>.</p>
<p>Association Belgo-Palestinienne says that under Belgian
law, some of Livni’s statements constitute war crimes in
their own right. It called for her to be arrested on
arrival.</p>
<p>The Goldstone Report states that where a country does
not investigate and prosecute war crimes on its own,
“international justice mechanisms must be activated to
prevent impunity.”</p>
<p>Livni has evaded justice <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/charlotte-silver/uk-thwarts-war-crimes-probe-former-israeli-minister">at
least four times</a> while traveling in Europe in
recent years.</p>
<p>Last July, UK police summoned her for questioning over
war crimes, but she escaped accountability on that
occasion due to the complicity of the British
government, which granted her special diplomatic
immunity.</p>
<h2>Discouraging dissent</h2>
<p>The Brussels <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/EIPAEuropeIsraelPublicAffairs/photos/pb.1417400351890233.-2207520000.1484838253./1636914169938849/?type=3&theater">conference</a>
Livni was due to attend aimed to counter the
Palestinian-led boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS)
movement.</p>
<p>It is sponsored by the Israel lobby group Europe Israel
Public Affairs (EIPA) and the Israeli mission to the EU.</p>
<p>Along with other Israeli officials, it is due to
feature Ioan Mircea Pascu, the vice-president of the
European Parliament.</p>
<p>The event organizers appear to be actively discouraging
attendance by anyone they fear may ask critical
questions.</p>
<p>The Electronic Intifada’s David Cronin noted on EIPA’s
Facebook page that he had received no response to his
registration request.</p>
<p>The group <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/EIPAEuropeIsraelPublicAffairs/posts/1636914273272172?comment_id=1636946956602237&reply_comment_id=1636951216601811&comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R0%22%7D">answered</a>
that “this event is for supporters of Israel and those
who oppose the BDS movement as divisive and
fundamentally anti-Semitic. As a contributor to The
Electronic Intifada and a well known anti-Israel
activist, we have no idea why our event would be of
interest.”</p>
<p>EIPA suggested that Cronin attend an alternative
“pro-BDS event” scheduled for the same time.</p>
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