Selective policing - El Al, it’s not just an airline, it’s Israel
on February 19, 2008
Category: London, Palestine
The British police allowed a suspected Israeli war criminal to return to Israel despite having a judicial warrant for his arrest at Heathrow airport. Major General Doron Almog is a former Israeli commander in Gaza and was wanted in relation to the demolition of 59 civilian homes in Gaza. The British police were expecting him to leave the plane and were waiting in the immigration hall to arrest him. However the Israeli Embassy in London was tipped off and boarded the plane at Heathrow to warn the General not to leave. Apparently the Metropolitan Police were refused permission by El Al to board the plane which returned to Israel with the General.
As the warrant for the General’s arrest was a secret one can only suppose the Israeli authorities must have been tipped off by one of the few people who knew about it’s existence - the lawyers for the Palestinians, hardly likely; the judge who issued the warrant; or someone from the Met Police counter-terrorism department. The police decision not to board the plane was made on the basis of the possibility of Israeli armed guards on the plane and whether or not they had the legal right to do so.
It was confirmed that El Al were refusing voluntary access to the plane and DSU MacBrayne could not get confirmation that he had a legal right to do so. The time scale involved made it impossible to receive the appropriate advice before the El Al flight was due to return to Israel at 15.30 hrs …
“Another consideration being that El Al flights carried armed air marshals which raised issues round public safety. There was also no intelligence as to whether Mr Almog would have been traveling with personal security as befitted his status, armed or otherwise………”
I find it strange that the police did not know the legalities of boarding a non-British airline and even if they didn’t, why could they not have grounded the plane until they found out? I also cannot believe that the counter-terrorist squad do not have any mechanisms in place for dealing with terrorists on planes sitting on the tarmac of a London airport. Would they have responded in the same way if the plane did not belong to an Israeli airline? I doubt it. Imagine if it had been an Iranian plane - no doubt it would still be sitting at Heathrow airport under siege from half of London’s armed police. Heathrow would probably be closed with all flights canceled…..But no, there are are no images of Israeli terror on the front pages this morning but what we do have from the police commander’s report is that “discreet” inquires were made by the police on the reaction of the British Jewish community if Almog was arrested - clearly the British government was more fearful of their reaction than of injustice.
Tags:
London + Heathrow
Israel
Palestine
Terrorism
El Al/a>
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6 Comments so far
1. Akin
February 19th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Hello,
Without insinuating foul play, I would suppose if the surname was Al Mog rather than Almog, there would be an entirely different story.
It is no doubt a disgrace and it is unlikely a decent open inquiry would be launched to determine how a suspect was within the grasp of the authorities on UK territory and he could not be arrested.
There would be more to this.
Regards!
2. Haitham Sabbah
February 19th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
I’m surprised that you are surprised
Remember, this is an “Israeli terrorist,” but he is most probably a son of a “holocaust victim”… which means that God has forgiven all his sins… in advance… so does UK… and the rest of the world should follow!!!
3. Sokari
February 19th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Haitham @ no not surprised, unfortunately it’s all very predictable.
Akin @ there has to be some foul play since someone in London tipped of the Israeli Embassy that their was a plan to arrest this man AND the decision not to board the plane was clearly a political decision if one is to believe the Commanders report.
4. Sabbah's Blog
February 19th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
NO targeted assassination?…
Strange!
Oh… He is Israeli war criminal… that’s why!?
Police feared ‘airport stand-off’
An Israeli general wanted for alleged war crimes escaped arrest in the UK because British police feared an armed confrontation at Heat…
5. darkdaughta
February 20th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Sokari,
I’m hoping that it will be okay for me to comment.
I read this and thought about what it means to have complicated experiences of oppression and privilege merged under one skin, in one people. I think that the Holocaust experience though valid and real ended up being bookmarked by Jewish people allying hardcore with euro powers who wanted an arab nation that wasn’t muslim to make sure that the middle east would never be completely able to unify. Israel serves a purpose in the region. It’s also securely allied with amerikkka. No one is going to mess with their buddies. It makes sense that the british let him go. There is no way any Israeli general was going to be held. That would have created an international crisis.
6. Sokari
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:15 am
DD @ Hey happy that you passed by and of course it is ok for you to comment. Yes, I agree that the Holocaust experience is both real and valid but it has been hijacked by the Zionist movement making it justification to exist outside international law and human rights. Thus Israel is able to ignore UN resolutions, build illegal settlements and protect their own war criminals. Ironic when Israel continues to pursue Holocaust war criminals and rightly so. But the only way to justify their action of protecting their own war criminals is by believing you are superior and have superior rights to Arabs / Muslims.