U.N. Human Rights Council to vote on whether to adopt the report’s conclusions • NGOs assembling panel of military, legal experts to refute biased conclusions • Shurat Hadin-Israel Law Center seeks disqualification of ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda.
By Shlomo Cesana, ISRAEL HAYOM
Israel is working to put together a “moral” coalition to oppose the U.N. Human Rights Council adopting the report on Operative Protective Edge, which Israel launched last summer to stop Hamas rocket attacks on its civilian population.
On Monday, Judge Mary McGowan Davis is slated to present the investigative committee’s report on the Gaza operation to the members of the UNHRC. After the matter is discussed, the council — comprising representatives of 47 nations — is scheduled to vote on whether to adopt the conclusions of the report or reject them.
The council is considered biased against Israel, and it appears that Israel will not win a majority or prevent the report from being accepted. Therefore, at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s instruction, the Foreign Ministry is attempting to assemble what it is calling a “moral majority”– a majority of Western nations, first and foremost the United States and leading European countries — that will oppose the report.
Meanwhile, some 50 organizations are planning to hold a demonstration in Geneva against the UNHRC report. The NGO Monitor research institute and the U.N. Watch group are organizing a panel of experts that will meet on Monday while the UNHRC convenes in Geneva and analyze the report from a military perspective as well as the aspects of international law and international terrorism network aspects.
The experts slated to participate in Monday’s panel include Col. Richard Kemp; Professor Gerald Steinberg; Jonathan Schanzer; Uzi Rubin; Hillel Neuer; and Anne Herzberg. They will seek to present an in-depth picture of the report and fill in any missing aspects. Other experts in military matters, law, and the Middle East are also planning special trips to Geneva to present an alternative view of the report.
Both NGO Monitor and U.N. Watch have emphasized that, as in past cases, the UNHRC is ignoring Hamas’ ideology, military capabilities, funding, and weapons channels. Moreover, the two sponsors of the panel argue, the investigative committee members’ lack of military expertise hampers their legal analysis of armed conflict and military operations.
In a related development, the Shurat Hadin-Israel Law Center has reached out to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to disqualify its chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, from dealing with matters relating to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict following her remarks about the Palestinian Authority’s plan to promote the UNHRC report as “proof” of “Israeli crimes.”
Shurat Hadin Chairwoman Nitzana Darshan-Leitner said that the Palestinian demands “designed for PR and to pressure Israel are weak and baseless, and Israel has strong claims that counter and nullify the suit.”
“On the other hand, Israel’s hands are tied and it cannot make its arguments before the court. Israel challenges the authority of the court and sees it as biased. If [Israel] were to take part in the process, it would be considered an assent to the court’s authority, and it would be required to accept its ruling,” Darshan-Leitner said.
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The West keeps footing the bill and keeps being insulted. They deserve most of it since they exhibit a fundamental lack of ETHICS.
Let us defund the UN-HRC and the UN-RWA.
The UN itself should be put on trial for criminal acts against humanity.
The strongest action Israel could take is to withdraw permanently from UNHRC.
But that would require standing up to Obama. And Netanyahu is not made of stern stuff.