Hostile crowd greets Netanyahu in London
This posting has these articles on Netanyahu’s London visit:
1) AFP/Ma’an: Protesters clash in London over Netanyahu’s UK visit. protests, petitions, publicity;
2) FT: Benjamin Netanyahu set to face protesters in two-day visit to UK, John Reed on the growing economic ties between UK and Israel;
3) Reuters: Heading to London, Netanyahu urges Europe to stop pressuring Israel, they miust stand together for modernity against the ‘mediaevalists’;
4) The Independent: Protests set to continue as David Cameron meets Benjamin Netanyahu for talks in which Netanayahu sells Israel to Europeans as their great bulwark against ISIL.
Protest and counter protest (below) in London as Netanyahu set to visit for the first time since 2013. Photo tweeted September 9th 2015 by Jon Scammell @JonScammell
Protesters clash in London over Netanyahu’s UK visit.
By AFP / Ma’an news
September 09/10, 2015
LONDON — Pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators clashed outside British Prime Minister David Cameron’s London residence on Wednesday ahead of a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Police officers separated the two groups and took away at least two protesters following minor scuffles and chanting by both sides, according to an AFP photographer.
Around 400 pro-Palestinian activists gathered outside Downing Street to protest the visit of Netanyahu, who arrives on Wednesday, but will not meet officially with Cameron until Thursday.
“Arrest Netanyahu” and “war criminal” they chanted, some holding up posters calling for an end to the blockade on Gaza as well as images of the Israeli leader plastered with the words “child killer.”
Others waved flags, including at least two from Lebanon’s powerful Shiite Hezbollah movement.
Facing them were around 100 pro-Israeli demonstrators, many waving the Israeli flag.
Police would not confirm how many protesters had been arrested.
More than 108,000 people have signed a petition urging the arrest of Netanyahu for war crimes, enough for the issue to be considered for debate in Britain’s parliament.
Israel’s embassy in London called the latest petition a “meaningless publicity stunt.”
Last summer, Israel and Hamas militants fought a deadly 50-day war in Gaza which left more than 2,251 Palestinians dead, most of them civilians, and 73 on the Israeli side, most of them soldiers.
Britain is pushing for a two-state solution to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and “will reinforce this message to Mr Netanyahu during his visit,” according to an official response to the petition.
Netanyahu’s office declined say what would be on the agenda for the talks, although the topic of West Bank settlements is likely to come up.
Britain is one of a number of European countries which have been pushing for the separate labelling of products from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Israel is also deeply concerned by July’s nuclear deal between Iran and major powers — including Britain.
Netanyahu will return to Israel on Friday.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators shout slogans as they gather to protest outside the gates of Downing Street in London on September 9, 2015 opposing a planned visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo by Justin Tallis /AFP
Benjamin Netanyahu set to face protesters in two-day visit to UK
By John Reed in Tel Aviv, Financial Times
September 08, 2015
Benjamin Netanyahu is due to arrive in the UK on Wednesday on a two-day visit to a key European ally at a time when Israel is at odds with the EU over a range of issues, from stalled peace talks to the labelling of products made in Jewish settlements.
Although UK-Israel trade is at record levels, the rightwing Israeli leader is also expected to face protests in the UK, where public support for Israel has sagged and a petition calling for his arrest for “war crimes” when he arrives has attracted more than more than 100,000 signatures.
Police officers attempt to negotiate with people taking part in a protest to block the arrival of military vehicles to the upcoming arms fair at the ExCel centre in east London on September 7, 2015. The group were highlighting their opposition to Israel’s actions against Palestine. The Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEI) arms trade fair is held in London’s Docklands every two years. This year it starts on September 15th. Campaign Against the Arms Trade (CAAT) are organizing protests. Photo by Leon Neal /AFP/Getty Images©AFP
Mr Netanyahu will meet David Cameron, UK prime minister, on Thursday to discuss regional and bilateral issues, including the nuclear deal with Iran, the peace process, Syria and the fight against Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil). He is also expected to meet UK Jewish leaders and may take part in an event highlighting the two countries’ growing trade and co-operation in technology.
Trade between the UK and Israel reached $5.8bn last year, up 8 per cent on 2013. Nine Israeli companies listed last year on the London Stock Exchange or the AIM small companies market, and UK companies and banks are eager buyers of Israeli technology.
Mr Netanyahu’s last visit to Britain was in April 2013, when he attended the funeral of Margaret Thatcher, former UK prime minister. Mr Cameron visited Israel in March 2014, where he gave a resoundingly pro-Israel speech in the Knesset.
However, the Jewish state is at odds with European allies over the frozen Middle East peace process and guidelines being drafted by Brussels to mandate the labelling of products made in Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian lands.
This week’s visit comes ahead of a UN General Assembly meeting this month at which Middle East issues will feature prominently. Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, said last week that Arab countries and the Middle East quartet of peace negotiators — the EU, US, UN and Russia — would meet in New York to find ways to revive talks, which collapsed last year.
The renewed push comes at a time when some Palestinian leaders have alarmed Israel and western countries by floating the possibility of disbanding the Palestinian Authority, the two-decade-old governing body formed as part of the Oslo peace accords.
Some diplomats have raised the possibility of the UK sponsoring or co-sponsoring a UN Security Council resolution that would set parameters for new peace negotiations and an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“I think it’s a very important visit, Britain being a key member of the EU for the time being,” said Oded Eran, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. “Given the activity in the EU about the peace process and labelling of Israeli goods, this means it’s very important preventive medicine.”
Israel faced harsh criticism in Britain during last year’s military operation in the Gaza Strip, which killed more than 2,100 people, nearly all of them Palestinians.
British Prime Minister David Cameron addresses Israeli lawmakers in the Knesset (Parliament) in Jerusalem on March 12, 2014. Cameron arrived in Israel for a two-day visit during which he will meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders to discuss the peace talks and Iran.
In an official response to the petition calling for Mr Netanyahu’s arrest “for the massacre of over 2,000 civilians in 2014”, the UK government said Mr Cameron “was clear on the UK’s recognition of Israel’s right to take proportionate action to defend itself, within the boundaries of i international humanitarian law”.
A poll published in January showed a surge in negative attitudes among Britons toward Israel over the previous two years, with more respondents expressing an “unfavourable” view of it than of any country except North Korea.
Israelis have over the past year been alarmed by reports of antisemitic attacks and rhetoric in European countries, including the UK. The controversy surrounding antisemitic views attributed to some associates of Jeremy Corbyn, the candidate for leader of the UK’s Labour party, was widely reported in the Israeli press.
On the street – arguments about Palestine-Israel outside Downing Street, September 9th. Photo by Toby Melville / Reuters.
Heading to London, Netanyahu urges Europe to stop pressuring Israel
By Dan Williams, Jerusalem, Reuters
September 09, 2015
Europe should see Israel as a partner in confronting the “mediaevalism” of militant Islam rather than criticizing it for its policy towards the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ahead of a visit to Britain on Wednesday.
Speaking after meeting European Council President Donald Tusk and before flying to London for talks with David Cameron, Netanyahu said Israel, like Europe, was under threat from violent Islam and the two needed to stand together.
“We’re challenged by the opposite of modernity, which is a barbaric mediaevalism, early mediaevalism, primitive, savage, murderous, that comes from the two sources of militant Islam,” he said, referring to Sunnis and Shi’ites.
“Europe should support Israel – not pressure Israel, not attack Israel, but support Israel, which is the only real shield that Europe and the Middle East have against extremist Islam, which is surging,” he told reporters.
The comments appeared to be an attempt to shift the focus of discussion away from the frequent talk of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, its restrictions towards the Gaza Strip and the need for a return to peace talks with the Palestinians, who seek statehood in the two territories.
Europe is pursuing plans to enforce the labeling of products made in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, to make clear they are made on occupied land, not in Israel. That move has angered Israel, which believes Europe is applying double standards and sanctioning an important trade partner.
Some British supermarkets already label Israeli settlement goods and the British Foreign Office has posted warnings on its website about the risks of doing business with Israeli companies that operate in the West Bank.
At the same time, Cameron and Netanyahu, both political conservatives, have enjoyed warm relations in the past and Cameron has spoken positively about Israel.
Despite that, Netanyahu faced public demonstrations as he arrived in London, with hundreds of people waving anti-Israel placards outside Cameron’s Downing Street residence.
More than 100,000 people in Britain have also signed a petition calling for Netanyahu to be arrested for war crimes over the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza last year.
Britain has said visiting leaders have immunity from legal process and thus cannot be arrested. It has also given measured support to Israel’s right to self-defense while ruing the “terrible toll” of the Gaza war, in which some 2,100 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, were killed as well as 73 on the Israeli side, almost all of them soldiers.
As well as over Gaza, Israel’s relations with Europe have been strained by Netanyahu’s campaigning against the nuclear deal with Iran reached by Britain, France and Germany, as well as the United States, China and Russia.
Netanyahu says the deal does not do enough to cap Iranian nuclear projects with bomb-making potential while spelling a windfall in sanctions relief Tehran could use to fund Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other guerrilla allies in the region.
That argument has had limited traction in a West more troubled by Sunni Muslim insurgents such as Islamic State, which counts Iran – a Shi’ite power – among its ideological enemies.
“We are ready to work together with Europe, Africa and other places in order to fight extremist Islam. But this necessitates a change in attitude, and this change will take time. But we will bring it about,” Netanyahu said.
Protests set to continue as David Cameron meets Benjamin Netanyahu for talks
Protesters demand UK authority arrest the Israeli PM’s handling of Gaza crisis
By James Cusick, The Independent
September 09, 2015
Protests outside the gates of Downing Street are expected to continue for a second day when David Cameron is scheduled to meet Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for talks.
Police clashed with around 300 angry protesters in Whitehall who demanded the UK authorities arrest Mr Netanyahu over his government’s handling of the continuing eight year blockade of Gaza and Israel’s overall policy towards the Palestinians.
Ahead of his visit to Number 10 and speaking after talks with the European Council president, Donald Tusk, Mr Netanyahu said Europe should be acting as a supporter rather a critic of his country, claiming “Israel is the only shield that Europe and Middle East have against extremist Islam, which is surging.”
In a controversial analysis not expected to be toned down for his meeting with Mr Cameron, Mr Netanyahu said Europe and Israel were being jointly challenged by “violent Islam”.
He called for a co-operative effort, also involving Africa, which would take on militant Islam which he branded a “barbaric medievalism” that was “primitive, savage and murderous.”
During his talks with Mr Cameron, Mr Netanyahu is expected to defend his handling of the Palestinian and Gaza conflicts. Despite the protests calling for his arrest in London, visiting heads of state are usually given legal immunity which prevents such action.
The welcome demo in London, September 9th 2015. Photo tweeted by Jon Scammell @JonScammell
Till now the UK government has been largely consistent in acknowledging Israel’s right to take “proportionate action to defend itself” within the confines of international humanitarian law.
However the human rights campaign group, Amnesty International, yesterday called on Mr Cameron to alter the UK’s foreign policy on Israel and tell Mr Netanyahu to stop using “security concerns” as an “excuse to collectively punish, impoverish and humiliate 1.8 million people in Gaza.”
Amnesty’s head of policy and government affairs, Allan Hogarth, said “David Cameron should be direct with Benjamin Netanyahu, telling him that Gaza’s suffering is unacceptable and must now end. Israel has an obligation to end its collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population and completely lifting the blockade is the right thing to do. “
Mr Netanyahu is under pressure to return from his brief foreign trip with something he can sell at home as a policy success.
The failure to block the US-led nuclear deal on Iran which was largely given an international seal of approval, and the continuing threat by the European Union to insist that products from the occupied territories in Israel are clearly labelled, have both affected Mr Netanyahu’s ratings.
Netanyahu’s schedule
The two day visit of Israel’s prime minister to the UK is not at the invitation of the Queen and will therefore not be accorded the pomp of an official state visit. However the objective remains the same – to strengthen the relationship between the two countries.
As well as his morning talks at Number 10, the official visit will also involve meetings with some MPs and leading members of Britain’s Jewish community.
The schedule is being kept private for security reasons.
According to Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the discussions will include “diplomatic, strategic and bilateral issues, as well as security and economic matters. “
On his return home, Mr Netanyahu is scheduled to hold meetings which will summarise what he believes he achieved in London.