The voice on the other end of the phone, said “You will do exactly as I say if you ever want to see your son alive again.”

The plot of a movie of the week? A mystery novel?

Nope.
This is what the official “government” of Hamas said publically about the young Israeli man kidnapped in a deadly sneak attack and held captive for the past three years.
And even as the unrepentant kidnapper/killers continue making demands, they held a press conference to publically “blame Israel” for the fact that they still hold Gilad Schalit –an innocent man — against his will. The kidnappers are demanding the release of hundreds of terrorist killers in exchange.

The Associated Press story starts by reporting, as a statement of fact, “Israeli intransigence caused a breakdown in negotiations to release an Israeli soldier held by the militant Palestinian group Hamas, its leader said Tuesday.”

It then goes on to say that, “speaking in the Iranian capital of Tehran, Khaled Mashaal said the Israelis have no choice but to free the Palestinian prisoners Hamas wants if it ever wants to see Sgt. Gilad Schalit again.” (emphasis mine)

The defiant words of a cowardly criminal.
It seems to me the only thing separating these kidnappers from the garden variety is their willingness to take the spotlight instead of remaining in the shadows. And it’s obvious to me that the reason they feel comfortable doing this is because much of the world seems to be comfortable with the Palestinians as violent criminals and the Jews as eternal victims.
They are not, evidently, OK with the Jews as self defenders, or we would not now be hearing arguments in the United Nations about war crimes trials against the Israelis for finally striking back to put an end to eight years – read that again so it sinks in – eight years of constant rocket attacks against Israel’s cities by Hamas.

The Israelis will eventually hand over some enormous number of homicidal maniacs in exchange for Schalit, and it will be anyone’s guess if the poor kid is returned alive or not. This wouldn’t be the first time Israel has exchanged live terrorists for dead Jews.

Yet, they really have no choice, because the idea of leaving that  poor, innocent kid in the hands of such monsters is emotionally killing everyone in the country and all people of conscience everywhere.
So, as rockets explode in Jewish towns in Israel and anti-Semitic incidents rise worldwide, the Muslim-heavy United Nations demands war crimes trials against Israelis for defending themselves, a British law is being cynically used to harass and intimidate Jews.
For some time now, Palestinians and their supporters, have found way to abuse a British law called “universal jurisdiction,” AP reports.
Lawyers working with Palestinian activists have tried to get several senior Israeli civilian and military leaders arrested using this law – which AP describes as an “ill-defined legal concept” that allows judges to issue arrest warrants for visiting officials accused of war crimes in a foreign conflict.
AP reports the fanatics’ latest target is Tzipi Livni, Israel’s former foreign minister and current opposition leader.

It’s another measure of the worlds’ growing acceptance of blatant anti-Semitism (call it anti-Zionism or Chaimyankle, anti-Semitism is what it is.)

But, at least some Brits have noticed and recognized the problem

A.P. reports that Eugene Rogan, director of the Middle East Center at England’s Oxford University, said “the demands of global diplomacy required leaders to be able to travel abroad without facing arrest threats.”

Sonya Sceats, an international law expert at a London think tank, said “the Livni arrest threat throws into bold relief how much ambiguity exists in Britain’s laws on universal jurisdiction.”

The story notes that in 1998 Spain and Britain jointly pioneered the law by arresting former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. British authorities kept Pinochet under house arrest in London until releasing him on humanitarian grounds in 2000, the story notes.
Pro-Palestinian activists in Britain hope to capture Israeli officials this way.

“We cannot talk tough on terrorism and be weak on war crimes,” one pro-Palestinian activist said. “Parties in Israel must realize there is a consequence to their behavior. For decades they’ve violated Security Council resolutions and international law with little or no consequence.”

A hilarious comment begging a discussion of who’s defying what international laws. I guess constant rocket attacks and suicide bomb attacks against unarmed civilians aren’t war crimes.
The good news is that Britain reportedly pledged, following the Livni event, to reform the law, stating that it could one day pose a threat to Barack Obama or Vladimir Putin (it is evidently  not enough that it’s a threat to Jewish leaders right now, but never mind.) And some experts suggested that were the targets someone other than Israelis, the law would have been eliminated by now.
I also notice that no one ever mentions arresting the leadership of the various Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas, Hezbollah or the PLO, who travel freely despite having hands dripping with the blood of innocent Jews and other westerners, and I don’t know why not.
However, AP reports that Foreign Secretary David Miliband announced that Britain would no longer tolerate legal harassment of Israeli officials in this fashion. Maybe in some other fashion, it will be OK, but not in this one.
Nevertheless, Miliband said the misguided law must be reviewed and reformed and that “the British government was determined that arrest threats against visitors of Livni’s stature would not happen again.”

He called Israel “a strategic partner and a close friend of the United Kingdom. We are determined to protect and develop these ties. Israeli leaders – like leaders from other countries – must be able to visit and have a proper dialogue with the British government.”

It’s about time.

Have PoliticalMavens.com delivered to your inbox in a daily digest by clicking here