Here's a little nugget I came across today:
In Britain today, hating Israel has become a valid criminal defense. This week five criminal defendants charged with destroying property valued at some $285,000 at the EDO MBM arms factory in Brighton during a January 2009 break-in were found innocent of all charges. They were found innocent despite the fact that all five admitted to having committed the crime. As the Guardian reported, the defendants boasted in online forums at the time of the incident that their crime was premeditated. It took place during the IDF's campaign against Hamas in Gaza. Their declared aim was to, "smash up," the factory. And they achieved their goal. The jury found the five innocent because the jurors accepted as a valid defense the defendants' claim that they vandalized the EDO MBM plant because they wanted to prevent Israel from carrying out war crimes in Gaza. EDO MBM does business with the IDF, therefore, the defendants claimed and the jury agreed, it deserved to be attacked. In finding as they did, the jurors were acting in accordance with the guidance they received from the presiding judge. As the Guardian reported, Judge George Bathurst-Norman instructed the jury, "You may well think that hell on earth would not be an understatement of what the Gazans suffered in that time." What this verdict shows is that in British courts, hatred of Israel has become a license to break the law. This turn of events is the logical flipside of Parliament's abject refusal to amend Britain's outrageous universal jurisdiction law. British lawmakers, government officials and jurists all basically agree that the law - which allows magistrates to issue arrest warrants against foreigners based on allegations filed by British subjects - is a legal travesty. It subverts the capacity of the British government to conduct foreign policy by placing all foreigners at the mercy of political activists. Both Spain and Belgium amended their universal jurisdiction laws for this reason. But in Britain no amendment is in the offing because the demand for the amendment is linked to Israel. Since Israel-hating activists began hijacking magistrate courts to force the issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli military personnel and politicians five years ago, Israel has repeatedly asked that the law be changed. And because Israel wants it changed, it will remain in force. In fact, not only will it remain in force, its use against Israelis expands by the day. Today any Israeli who served in the IDF has to think twice about travelling to Britain lest doing so place him or her in jeopardy of being arrested on trumped-up charges. What both the Brighton court's verdict and the abuse of the universal jurisdiction law show is that today in England Israelis cannot assume that the laws will protect them. And by the same token haters of Israel can assume that they will be immune from punishment for violent attacks against Israel-related targets. THE PERVERSION of the legal system in England isn't unique. Take the situation in Malmo, Sweden for instance. In an almost one-to-one parallel of the arguments that won the day in the Brighton courtroom, in January Malmo Mayor Ilmar Reepalu used the occasion of Holocaust Remembrance Day to bash Israel and Israel supporters and equate them with Nazi Germany. Over the past few years, Malmo's Jewish community has been fleeing the city due to the massive increase in anti-Jewish violence conducted by an alliance of Muslims and leftists. Reepalu denied there is anti-Jewish violence in his city and then went on to blame the city's Jewish residents for the violence launched against them. As he put it to the Skanska Dagbladet newspaper, if the city's Jews don't wish to be attacked, all they have to do is denounce Israel. But he said, "Instead the community chose to hold a pro-Israel demonstration," adding darkly that their action, "may convey the wrong message to others." So like the EDO MBM plant, Malmo's Jews deserve to be attacked.