After being notified by the British Foreign Ministry that he could face arrest upon his arrival in England, Israeli Cabinet Minister Dan Meridor decided to cancel his trip. The charges stem from Meridor’s role in the May 31st Israeli attack on a humanitarian aid ship to Gaza, during which nine aid workers were killed by Israeli troops.Meridor is the Israeli Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy, and attended a meeting with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu several days before the attack on the aid ship, according to the testimony of Netanyahu during an official inquiry. During that meeting, Meridor and 7 other ministers allegedly discussed the aid ship and the planned Israeli response to it.
The exact content of the meeting is unknown, as the Israeli government has refused to make the transcripts public, but it is believed that the potential for a military attack on the ship was discussed.
Israel has refused to participate in an international investigation into the attack on the aid ship, and has refused to release the contents of the hundreds of laptops, cameras, videos and recorders owned by the aid workers and confiscated by the Israeli military during the attack. They have, however, released a few snips of heavily-edited video to the media – some of which was discovered to have been doctored by the Israeli authorities.
Israeli officials have come under increasing pressure worldwide due to their treatment of the Palestinians, including the three year long siege on the people of Gaza, during which they have prevented the entry of all but the most basic goods – even preventing the population from rebuilding after a devastating Israeli invasion last year that lasted three weeks and resulted in the deaths of 1400 Palestinians and 5 Israelis.
