It's being reported here that one of Israel's Deputy Prime Ministers, Dan Meridor, one of the saner members of the Israeli government, has cancelled a visit to London to address Bicom's annual dinner because he feared arrest for alleged war crimes under universal jurisdiction legislation.
The cancellation -- a blow to Bicom -- follows Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's decision not to attend either, saying that the peace talks were at a delicate stage (a euphemism, probably, for "dead in the water"). Perhaps, however, the truth is more prosaic and has nothing to do with peace talks or alleged fears of arrest.
Perhaps neither Netanyahu nor Meridor could arrange to have meetings with their British opposite numbers, Cameron and Clegg, and that would have been a major diplomatic embarrassment for a country which is allegedly an ally of Britain.
It's worth noting that Netanyahu is travelling next week to the US for talks with Jewish community leaders there. He has no meeting arranged with Obama (although he will be meeting Joe Biden, but not in Washington) -- very unusual for an Israeli PM to travel to the US and not have a meeting in the White House.
Maybe Israeli ministers are persona non grata and even Israel's allies have lost patience.