"The prime minister instructed the relevant government bodies to examine a worldwide campaign to amend the international laws of war to adapt them to the spread of global terrorism," Netanyahu's office said in a statement following Tuesday's meeting.

Richard Goldstone, the jurist who authored a UN report accusing Israel of war crimes and crimes against humanity during its war on Gaza, has challenged the US to justify its claims that his findings are flawed and biased.

Goldstone told Al Jazeera on Thursday that he had not heard from the administration of Barack Obama, the US president, about the flaws Washington claims to have identified in the report.

"The Geneva Conventions Act of 1957 places a positive obligation on the UK to pursue those who are alleged to have committed grave offences under the act," said another lawyer. "In the light of the Goldstone report [into the Gaza war] there is a prima facie case to answer." The only successful prosecution so far has been of an Afghan warlord convicted of torture in 2005. News of a plan to involve the attorney general in issuing warrants brought complaints about selective application of the law, politicisation of criminal justice, and violation of the separation of powers.

“The realization of the entire spectrum of rights is now, more than ever, dependent on what we say or believe, what ethnic group we belong to, how much money we have, and more. We have the freedom to express ourselves and demonstrate – only if we don’t say anything displeasing; we have the right to equal treatment and opportunities – only if we are “loyal” to the State; we have the right to health care – only if we have enough money to afford treatments and medications; and we have the right to adequate housing – only if our ideologies and lifestyles are acceptable.” (What the report called “he is one of us”)