INTERFERENCE

Israeli Embassy Tried to Butt In on U.K. Court Cases

Emails suggested the embassy’s overtures were unwelcome.

Officials at the Israeli embassy in the U.K. tried to interfere in cases involving protesters that were brought before the country’s attorney general, according to The Guardian. Emails and documents obtained by Palestine Action, an activist group that targets companies that provide weapons in the Israeli-Palestine conflict, showed a representative for the Director General of the Attorney General's Office, Douglas Wilson, admonishing the embassy for its request. “As we noted … the [Crown Prosecution Service] makes its prosecution decisions and manages its casework independently. The law officers are unable to intervene on an individual case or comment on issues related to active proceedings,” one email read. It was unclear what the embassy specifically requested, as the documents were heavily redacted. The embassy told the Guardian that it would “under no circumstances” interfere in the U.K. legal system. Instead, “as part of its ongoing work, the embassy of Israel raises awareness on severe attacks against entities related to Israel.”