Netanyahu denounces an anti-Israel obsession at the UN: “Shameful!”
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Alaina
- . May 28, 2021
- . Update: May 28, 2021 8:25 pm
The UN Human Rights Council has decided to launch an international investigation into human rights violations committed in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel since April. The investigation also aims to investigate the “root causes” of the tensions between Palestinians and Israelis. The resolution was adopted during an extraordinary meeting of the Council with 24 votes in favor, 9 against, and 14 abstentions. The meeting was requested by Pakistan, as coordinator of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and by the Palestinian authorities.
A decision that the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, defines as “shameful”. This is “another example of the open anti-Israel obsession” of this United Nations body, he added. “This staging makes fun of international law and encourages terrorists around the world,” Netanyahu points out on Twitter. For the Israeli premier, the UN Human Rights Council “represents as the ‘guilty party’ a democracy that legitimately protects its citizens from thousands of rocket attacks without distinction”.
The reaction of the Foreign Ministry of Tel Aviv is also harsh, announcing that it “will not collaborate” with the UN commission for the investigation of human rights violations. “The real purpose of this commission is to ‘clean up the crimes of the terrorist group Hamas and to indict Israel for the actions carried out in defense of its citizens”, adds the statement. Finally, the ministry notes that “Israeli forces have acted in compliance with international law defending Israeli citizens, while Hamas has fired rockets without distinction at civilians”.
The United States regrets the decision of the UN Human Rights Council. “Today’s move rather risks undermining the progress made” towards peace, reads a note released by the American mission in Geneva. Washington, which is an observer member without the right to vote in the UN Human Rights Council (Donald Trump withdrew from the US in 2018, claiming that the panel had targeted Israel), did not intervene during the special meeting of today it has adopted the resolution presented by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
“It is a moral stain on the international community and the United Nations”, said the Israeli foreign ministry. “The decision contains no reference to the terrorist group Hamas and completely ignores the 4,300 rockets launched against Israeli citizens,” the ministry added in a statement.
Meanwhile, the French ambassador to Israel was summoned to the Israeli foreign ministry following “shocking” remarks by French diplomacy chief Jean-Yves Le Drian on a “risk of apartheid” in the region, a spokesman said. of the Israeli ministry. During the meeting in Jerusalem, which was confirmed by a French diplomatic source, Foreign Minister Gaby Ashkenazy told Ambassador Eric Danon that the French minister’s remarks were “unacceptable, unfounded and unrealistic.”
Meanwhile, high-level delegations from Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, have agreed to meet next week in Cairo, to consolidate the truce agreed a week ago with the mediation of Egypt and to address issues such as the reconstruction of Gaza and the exchange of hostages. Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi will lead the Israeli delegation to the “beginning of next week” meeting, as confirmed by the official Israeli army radio, Galatz. For Hamas, the movement’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, will go to Cairo “in the next few days” to “discuss stabilization of the ceasefire with Israel”.
