Zionist leaders in Europe: Don't keep visits by Israeli officials hush-hush

European Zionist organizations should continue to openly advertise visits by Israeli officials, even if this exposes the visitors to arrest warrants and heckling, pro-Israel activists from Europe said this week following a warrant for the arrest of Tzipi Livni in the U.K. "There is no practical way of keeping secret visits by Israeli officials to the community," said Jonathan Hoffman, co-vice-chair of Britain's Zionist Federation, who is visiting Israel this week for the 2009 Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism.

"Visits by Israeli officials are seen as very important by many in the British Jewish community, and are advertised online several weeks in advance," said Jonathan Sacerdoti, a Zionist activist from London who registered last month to hear Livni speak before members and supporters of the Jewish National Fund in Britain. "Our sites are monitored by anti-Zionist groups and they use them to schedule demonstrations and seek the issuing of arrest warrants," added Sacerdoti.

Alan Aziz, the Zionist Federation's executive director, told Anglo File that preventing future prosecution of Israeli officials in the U.K. will be a central issue in his organization's lobbying event next month in parliament.

Aziz, Hoffman and Sacerdoti said they oppose lowering the profile of visits by Israeli officials to the U.K. "The noise this is now making following the warrant for Livni's arrest is a positive thing in the long run," said Hoffman. "It will cause parliament to change the law."

But Hoffman said that despite Foreign Secretary David Miliband's promise to rectify the legal situation, he doubted the current government - which Hoffman defines as "the most anti-Israel British government ever" - would follow through.

Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, said his organization may begin using the legal provisions that made the arrest warrant against Livni possible for "fighting back and using the same system against those who support terror" in Britain and in other European countries, unless these provisions are changed.

Hoffman said this was "a possibility which needs to be considered," but the head of Holland's leading pro-Israel group, the Centre for Information and Documentation on Israel, which has hosted dozens of Israeli officials and representatives, called it "a bad idea." Ronny Naftaniel said, "We should not play at this game, and if we do we should not be surprised when we are hit by warrants against Livni and others."

Last year a Dutch court rejected a motion to arrest former Shin Bet head Ami Ayalon, after he visited Holland to participate at an event hosted by Naftaniel's organization. "Such motions, when they are rejected, help establish a legal tradition in which they are not allowed to come to pass," Naftaniel said.

Arie Zuckerman, the Jerusalem-based secretary general of the European Jewish Fund - which belongs to the European Jewish Congress - stressed that "we see that European legislators act to limit the jurisdiction of their courts only when non-Israeli politicians are being targeted." Zuckerman, a jurist who taught international law, cited the example of Ariel Sharon's 2002 prosecution in Belgium. "Belgian law was changed only after a similar suit was lodged against George Bush," said Zuckerman, who called the Livni warrant "a case of political lawfare."

According to Zuckerman, "pro-Palestinian activists in countries like the U.K., Spain, Belgium and others need to see that there are not only pro-Palestinians NGOs on the playing field, and that what goes around comes around. When you make a mockery of your own legal systems, it has some very serious implications."

Next month, Ron Edelheid from Modi'in, a Dutch-born captain in the reserves serving in the IDF Spokesperson unit, will travel to Holland to speak about Operation Cast Lead, in which he participated. On his last visit, in February, dozens of hecklers protested his presence, and a few people threw shoes at him while he was lecturing inside an Amsterdam hotel.

"I will go to Holland and have my visit advertised so that as many listeners as possible will come," said Edelheid, whose mother lives in the Netherlands. He added that he realized this could subject him to attempts to issue a warrant for his arrest. "I have done no wrong and I will not cower in the corner. If this gets me into a mess, I'm sure the country I serve will know how to get me out."