The Met should stop worrying about Hamas, and focus on solving crimes here at home

The Metropolitan Police are risking a public relations nightmare by involving themselves in the Israel-Hamas war, writes Mark Almond

Far from promoting public order, this could spark tensions among the polarised communities here (Getty Images)

The Metropolitan Police’s decision to greet arrivals at London’s airports with a request specific to possible war crimes in Israel and Palestinian-controlled territory was bound to spark a firestorm.

Of course, the fate of individual British residents caught up in the conflict, and the need for coroners to record the cause of their deaths, is something the police routinely help clarify. But trawling for evidence of crimes committed abroad on and by foreigners, in a jurisdiction where there is next to no chance of impartial judicial inquiry, seems a remarkable use of limited police resources.

By all means, pity the poor old Met for stepping into this burning cauldron of polarised public debate. Modern Britain may have abandoned actual empire, but our governments since Tony Blair’s landslide in 1997 have imposed global human rights’ obligations on institutions like the police, reflecting a desire for the post-imperial UK to punch above its weight – or in this case, to poke its nose into places where it is likely to get bitten off.