More than 65,000 people in the United Kingdom have signed a petition calling for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visits London in September.
"Under international law he should be arrested for war crimes upon arrival in the U.K. for the massacre of over 2000 civilians" during the 50-day war in the Gaza Strip last year, says the petition, which was uploaded to the U.K. Parliament's official website on Aug. 7 and has garnered 66,793 signatures. The deadline to sign the petition is Feb. 7, 2016.
Between July 8 and Aug. 27, 2014, more than 2,100 Palestinians - mostly civilians, including 577 children - were killed by Israel in the Gaza Strip, while 66 Israeli soldiers and seven civilians were killed in Israel by Palestinian militants, according to BBC.
The British government responds to all petitions that get more than 10,000 signatures, and after 100,000 signatures, the petition will be considered for debate in Parliament.
In a statement released earlier this week, the Israeli Ministry for Foreign Affairs said the petition has "no real meaning" and that "bilateral ties between Britain and Israel are closer than ever before," according to Press TV.
Any British citizen can start a petition on the Parliament's website, and the one for Netanyahu's apprehension is the fourth most popular on the site out of more than 700 filed, notes Haaretz. While none have gone up for debate in front of Parliament, two petitions met the 100,000 threshold and are currently pending debate: one to legalize cannabis, which got 199,197 signatures, and another to debate a vote of no confidence in Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, which was signed by 217,366 people.
