Green Party leader Zack Polanski has called for the arrest of Israeli President Herzog when he visits the UK this week, accusing him of being part of the “Israeli government engaged in an ongoing genocide.”

Polanski said:

“President Herzog has been complicit while the Israeli government has engaged in an ongoing genocide in Gaza. Everyone involved should be arrested, charged for war crimes and face justice.”

“Welcoming a potential war criminal to the UK is another demonstration of how this Labour government is implicated in the ongoing genocide in Gaza. It also serves as a brutal insult to those mourning the thousands of innocent lives lost and to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians facing ongoing violence and hunger.

“A refusal to detain Herzog can be seen as a contravention of the Geneva Convention which makes clear that States have legal responsibility for preventing the targeting of civilians. When this is breached individuals must be prosecuted and this should be applied to Herzog.”

Co-deputy leader, Mothin Ali, added:

“The planned visit of President Herzog coincides with the DSEI arms fair in London where 51 Israeli arms companies are putting on a sickening display of “battle-tested” armaments that will potentially have been used in war crimes against Palestinians. But instead of kicking Israel out of DSEI, the government seems happy for one of the world’s largest arms fairs to host these companies making and selling weapons of death and destruction. Another sign of complicity from this Labour government.”

“This government thinks it can fool the public by banning selected Israeli representatives. We see through it, and we will continue to call it out, until all those complicit in genocide are brought to justice.”