Today, J Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami released the following statement:
J Street applauds Foreign Secretary David Miliband’s rejection of an arrest warrant issued for Israeli Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni in Great Britain, as well as his promise to pursue a change in the law that would prevent unfortunate events like these from happening in the future. The principle of diplomatic immunity allows world leaders to travel to negotiate in good faith on issues affecting their countries’ core national interests and must be protected from politically-motivated abuse. While J Street may have had disagreements with the Israeli government over the strategic choice it made to launch Operation Cast Lead in Gaza last year, we have always stated our support for Israel’s right to defend itself against terror and extremism. We oppose efforts to abuse the international legal system to prevent Israel from exercising that fundamental right.