45,000 sign online petition to arrest Netanyahu in UK

A petition calling for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be arrested for ‘war crimes’ when he arrives in London next month has been signed by over 45,000 people in a report in RT today.
Netanyahu will visit London as part of a state visit in September and meet with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
According to Jewish News, the Iranian nuclear deal and the deadlocked  Israel-Palestine peace process will be key issues on the agenda during the visit.
The petition which is  on the UK Parliament website, demands Netanyahu’s arrest upon arrival for “the massacre of over 2,000 civilians in 2014.”
In the summer of 2014, Israel launched a bloody attack against Gaza that massacred nearly 2,300 Palestinians, the majority of which were civilians, 500 of them children.
The attack crippled Gaza’s infrastructure and left over 500,000 people homeless or displaced.
The government will be forced to respond since the petition has received over 10,000 signatures. If it surpasses 100,000, Parliament could debate the issue.
Despite the petition however, under diplomatic immunity laws, Netanyahu is protected from arrest in Britain for crimes committed in foreign countries.
A Foreign Ministry spokesperson has dismissed the petition, calling it a “meaningless” publicity stunt that has “no practical significance.” and that, “bilateral ties between Britain and Israel are closer than ever before.”
According to the Jerusalem Post, some former Israeli officials have been at risk of arrest in Britain as pro-Palestinian activists in the UK “take advantage of legal loopholes.”
Previously, the law allowed complaints of alleged war crimes committed elsewhere to be lodged against military personnel even if they were not British citizens however the law was changed in 2011,  making it more difficult to obtain arrest warrants against Israeli figures by requiring the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Previous targets have included the former Defense Minister Ehud Barak and former Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.