The crisis broke when it was revealed that a London court, petitioned by a pro-Palestinian group under the legal doctrine of "universal jurisdiction," had issued a warrant for the arrest of Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni on charges of war crimes. Livni, who was foreign minister during Israel's military operation in Gaza early this year, was scheduled to appear at a Jewish charity fundraiser in London last Sunday. Instead, she canceled her visit and participated via a video link.

In an interview with the BBC, Livni struck a defiant note, declaring that "what needs to be put on trial here is the abuse of the British legal system." Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu also protested the move, and a spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry warned that if not disavowed, the practice could "seriously compromise Britain's ability to play the active role in the Middle East peace process that it desires."

In a bid to stanch the diplomatic hemorrhage, the British Foreign Office rushed out a statement declaring that "the U.K. is determined to do all it can to promote peace in the Middle East and to be a strategic partner of Israel. To do this, Israel's leaders need to be able to come to the U.K. for talks with the British government."

Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the government was looking at ways in which the U.K. system, by which arrest warrants can be issued without a prosecutor's prior knowledge or advice, could be changed to prevent this kind of incident in the future. Putting the final touches on the reconciliation, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is said to have personally called Livni to apologize, and to assure her of a warm welcome anytime she chooses to visit Britain.

London's embarrassment was compounded by the fact that Livni supported Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005. And as leader of the centrist Kadima Party, she now advocates for Israel's unilateral withdrawal from much of the West Bank. She is precisely the sort of Israeli leader with whom European politicians would like to do business.

Universal jurisdiction empowers courts to detain foreign nationals on charges of war crimes, even if the alleged offenses were committed in a foreign country and the perpetrators and victims were foreign nationals. It has been adopted by many states to deny a safe haven anywhere in the world to those suspected of atrocities. The most high-profile case involved Adolf Eichmann, who was tried in Israel in 1961 for his role in engineering the Holocaust. More recent cases have involved former officials from Rwanda, Liberia, the former Yugolsavia, Chad and Chile, among other countries.

But critics claim the practice of universal jurisdiction has become increasingly political, with one describing it as "a movement to turn international politics into legal proceedings." Arrest warrants have recently been sought for Israeli officials, as well as for former senior American officials over their roles in Iraq. There is even talk of indicting former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. As a result, a backlash against the practice has arisen, with even Spain, a country known for its judicial activism, taking steps to limit the scope of its application.

Both the practice in general and its application to Livni have drawn rebukes in the U.K. An editorial in London's Daily Telegraph called on Miliband to "take immediate action to ensure that there is no repeat of this disgraceful treatment of one of Britain's key regional allies."

At the same time, an editorial in the Times declared that "the legal campaign against Israel's leaders is not justice but politics, and disreputable politics at that."

The diplomatic fracas over Livni's visit is the latest in a series of public blips that have blighted relations between Britain and Israel over the past six months, particularly since former Prime Minister Tony Blair was succeeded by Gordon Brown.

Soon after Brown's accession, it emerged that Britain was operating a limited, unofficial arms embargo against Israel. More recently, the British government announced that it would require precise labeling on Israeli exports to make clear whether goods imported from the West Bank were produced by Palestinians or Jewish settlers.

Despite these hiccups, there was no sense that Anglo-Israeli relations were in crisis. But the Livni affair provided a rude wake-up call, and the swift interventions by Brown and Miliband to heal the rift might actually serve to improve relations in the long run.

Strong anti-Israel sentiments will continue to pervade large swathes of the political spectrum in Britain. But both Blair and Brown are regarded as staunch friends of Israel -- unusually so, among senior Labor Party politicians. Both are sensitive to Israel's security needs, and both have expressed profound concern about the rising tide of anti-Semitism in Britain.

But while Blair devoted much of his attention as prime minister to foreign affairs, Brown has focused largely on domestic issues. The result is that since Brown's arrival in Downing Street, the exercise of much of Britain's foreign policy has been in the hands of the Foreign Office, regarded by some as hostile to Israel. British historian Andrew Roberts, for instance, noted last week that the Foreign Office had never permitted a symbolically important official visit to Israel by Britain's royal family.

That is likely to change for the better. World Politics Review has learned from a senior diplomatic source in London that the British government privately assured Israeli officials last year that the practice of universal jurisdiction would be reformed. But it reportedly reneged on its commitment as a way of "punishing" Israel for the Gaza operation. It now seems certain that the pledge will be honored by making international jurisdiction warrants conditional on the approval of the attorney general.

In the meantime, the Israeli government has ordered ministers to steer clear of Britain until the reforms are introduced.

**Douglas Davis is a writer and journalist currently based in London. His work appears in the Spectator (London) and the National Post (Toronto). Previously he was a senior editor and European correspondent for the Jerusalem Post. His most recent book is "Israel in the World: Changing Lives through Innovation."