Britain has issued an arrest warrant against Israel`s former foreign minister Tzipi Livni for war crimes.
Israel urged Britain to change the law, which has allowed Palestinians to pursue charges against non-citizens for alleged crimes committed outside its borders.
The decision of the British court already has caused several Israeli officials and retired military commanders to call off trips to Britain.
Livni stepped down after February parliamentary elections and is now Israel`s opposition leader.
Livni`s office refused to confirm reports in Arab media on Monday that she had been forced to call off a trip to London because of legal concerns. Instead, it said the trip was cancelled for unrelated reasons.
Tzipi Livni did not directly address the warrant in a speech at a security conference on Tuesday. Reuters quotes Livni as saying that "when the state of Israel has to do what`s right, it must be done. Judging yes or no, statements yes or no, arrest warrants yes or no. This is for the leadership to decide. I would make the same decisions all over again."
The British Foreign Office said Monday it was looking urgently into the case, adding that Britain was determined to do its best to be a strategic partner of Israel.
"To do this, Israel`s leaders need to be able to come to the UK for talks with the British Government," it said.
In 2005, a retired Israeli general, Doron Almog, returned to Israel immediately after landing in London because he was tipped off that British police planned to arrest him. The warrant against Almog - who oversaw the bombing of a Gaza home in which 14 people, almost all family members of a senior militant, were killed - was later cancelled.