GENEVA – The World Jewish Congress has renewed its calls on the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to remove once and for all Agenda Item 7 targeting Israel, the only permanent item on the Council’s agenda against a particular country. The UNHRC is meeting now in Geneva for its 40th session.
During a debate on Item 7 on Monday, the Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories and a Commission of Inquiry accused Israel of perpetuating human rights abuses in those territories. The United States has withdrawn from the Council over its ongoing bias.
“The UNHRC has again shown its blatant discrimination and double standards, spending approximately eight critical hours of debate scapegoating Israel rather than taking the opportunity to expose the accountability of the Palestinian leadership for the deterioration of human rights in the territories under their control,” said WJC CEO and Executive Vice President Robert Singer. “This one-sided approach will only contribute to the exacerbation of Palestinian suffering, as it absolves both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority of any wrong-doing, placing the blame erroneously and detrimentally on the State of Israel.”
“Item 7 is only part of the problem at this Council. Later this week, member states will debate five egregious resolutions against Israel that fully ignore the realities and complexities on the ground in the region. They attack Israel and demand accountability without even a single mention of Hamas, the rulers of the Gaza Strip which indiscriminately uses civilians, including women and children, as human shields, and which routinely imposes violence and stifling restrictions against its own people,” Singer said. “The UNHRC has become nothing more than a theater of the absurd. The World Jewish Congress will continue to speak out against this Council as long as the bias against Israel remains. We look forward to the day when the UN Human Rights Council resumes its focus on protecting human rights worldwide.”
In Geneva, WJC Jewish Diplomat Philippe Assouline spoke on the UNHRC floor against the Commission of Inquiry’s report accusing Israel of crimes against humanity in Gaza, calling it a “a flagrant disregard for the facts and basic decency” and a “manipulative lie.”
“Hamas’ march was a propaganda exercise to create heartbreaking images with which to abuse western compassion and indict Israel. Hamas understands well that their jihadi aggression will be eagerly supported by this body if enough children are killed for the cameras,” Assouline said.
The report disregards the fact that the sole aim of the so-called March of Return last spring was to incite Palestinian civilians against their Israeli neighbors and ignores that Hamas “carefully planned this violence and ensured that children and civilians would take part – busing them in and encouraging them to attack border guards,” he said.
“Hamas is reported to have shot its own citizens last week for protesting the price of food. The Report would have us believe this government – a terrorist group known for targeting children and murdering dissidents -- had no active hand in masses of its people violently storming an international border far from their homes, to murder families living peacefully beyond it.”
Furthermore, the report “castigates Israel as an occupying power –revealing the anti-Israel psychosis that animates it. Gaza has been under Palestinian rule since 1994 and Israel completely vacated the territory in 2005! What a reward this report is for that brave step.”
Assouline concluded: “This report is not merely irresponsible and embarrassing, it is dishonest. It is a blank check to terrorist groups. And its abject unfairness is why Israelis have no absolutely zero trust to the UN.”
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