Minister of Strategic Affairs Moshe Ya’alon has turned down an invitation as a guest speaker at a London Jewish National Fund event next month, fearing arrest if he travels to the UK.

Ya’alon consulted with state legal officials, and he was advised to refrain from attending the event since Arabs and supporters may petition the UK courts to issue an arrest warrant against him.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak last month faced a similar situation, but refused to cancel a planned UK stopover, refusing to back down to threats to petition courts to issue an international arrest warrant against him. The petitions did follow and simultaneously, Foreign Ministry officials contacted their counterparts in the UK and the court eventually declined to rule on the matter during Barak’s stay in the UK.

Officials in Jerusalem believe another minister who may face a similar situation is Minister or Industry & Trade Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, due to his role as a minister approving the assassination of master terrorist Salah Shadah.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)