NOVANEWS
jpost.com
The Ministry of Justice confirmed on Monday that former Navy Commander Maj. Gen. Eliezer Marom was briefly stopped and questioned at London’s Heathrow Airport upon arriving in England.
Although the media speculated that Marom was questioned about his role as commander during the Navy’s raid on the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla, the Justice Ministry would not confirm those details.
The matter is currently under investigation by the Foreign Ministry.
Marom’s questioning was reminiscent of past attempts in England to arrest and potentially bring to trial for alleged war crimes then-defense minister Ehud Barak and cancelled trips by Tzipi Livni because of her prior role as foreign minister.
Being questioned while traveling in Europe has also been a concern for senior IDF officials due to lawsuits drawn up by pro-Palestinian organizations, but has never amounted to any arrests.
However, the incident was also highly unexpected as most recently the British government changed its law to prevent private individuals from seeking such arrests without government approval – which the British government had clearly signaled it would not give.
Ashkenazi appointed Marom commander of the Israel Navy in August 2007, in place of Maj.-Gen. David Ben-Bashat. Marom had served in the past as deputy commander of the Navy and head of Naval Intelligence, and played a key role in the capture of the PLO’s Karine A weapons ship in 2002.
After his predecessor Ben-Bashat was appointed commander of the Navy, Marom was sent to Singapore as the IDF’s military delegate, ahead of planned retirement. He was later brought back to command the Navy following Ben-Bashat’s resignation during the Second Lebanon War in 2006.
