PLEASING NO ONE
While the Britain-based Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) welcomed Cameron's comments in Turkey saying they reflected popular British opinion, the organization is exasperated with the universal-jurisdiction announcement.
"Disappointed is not the word. We are incredibly concerned that the British government does not seem to realize that it has a responsibility under international law to prosecute those suspected of war crimes and bring to justice those who have committed war crimes," the PSC's Director of Campaigns and Operations Sarah Colborne said on Thursday.
"What this change will do is to allow those people who have committed war crimes to walk freely in this country," she added.
Likewise the Israelis have been left with a bitter taste in their mouth. The fact that Cameron describes himself as "a critical friend of Israel," means he will not be trusted by the Jewish state in the same way its leaders confided in his two predecessors, Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, according to Jonathan Rynhold, a British born senior research associate at the Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies near Tel Aviv.
The new strategy of Britain seems to be about appeasement, said Rynhold. He points to the British dialogue with Hezbollah, the south Lebanon-based organization with its own military wing.
"He's gone to Turkey at a time when Turkey has invited (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad, is supporting the Iranian position on the nuclear question...is inviting the Sudanese leader who is wanted for genocide, and in that environment he says all of this about Israel. You have to say that is something different and problematic," said Rynhold.
While Israelis and the U.S. pro-Israel lobby were initially concerned about the stance of United States President Barack Obama, in recent months he does appear to have given considerable credence to Israel's diplomatic position.
The British, however, appear to be moving in a different direction, so much so that Rynhold believed this could well make Israel turn to France in place of Britain as one of its main allies in Europe.
