Asked by: Brian Leishman (Labour - Alloa and Grangemouth)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether Herzi Halevi was given special mission diplomatic immunity to visit the UK in November 2024.
Answered by Catherine West - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Government officials from any country can apply for and be granted special mission certificates as part of official visits to the UK. As set out in a Written Ministerial Statement by the former Foreign Secretary dated 4 March 2013, a special mission is a temporary mission, representing a State, which is sent by one State to another with the consent of the latter, in order to carry out official engagements on behalf of the sending State. The FCDO gave consent for special mission status for the visit to the UK on 24-25 November of Lieutenant General Herzl Halevi, Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, and delegation.