The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday voted to adopt a report on last summer’s Israel-Gaza conflict which accuses both Israel and the Palestinians of possibly committing war crimes.
The resolution to adopt the report passed by a vote of 41 to one, with five abstentions. Only the United States voted against the resolution, while India, Kenya, Ethiopia, Paraguay and Macedonia abstained. India has traditionally voted for anti-Israel resolutions. The resolution also was adopted with the support of 41 European Union member states who are members of the council, including Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
While the report accused both Israel and the Palestinians of possible war crimes, its findings focused more on what it considered Israeli wrongdoing in its operation known as Protective Edge.
The resolution drafted by the Arab states, which calls for the implementation of the report and its recommendations, ignores criticism of the Palestinians and does not mention rockets launched by Hamas from Gaza on Israel. It also calls for Israeli officials to be held responsible for alleged war crimes.
Among dozens of recommendations, the report called on Israel to hold its soldiers and officers accountable for the breaches of international law during the conflict. The resolution also "calls upon the parties concerned to cooperate fully with the preliminary examination of the International Criminal Court and with any subsequent investigation that may be opened."
Following the vote, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu again condemned the council. “The UN Human Rights Council is not interested in the facts and is not really interested in human rights. On the day on which Israel was fired at from Sinai, and at a time when ISIS is committing vicious terrorist attacks in Egypt, as Assad slaughters his people in Syria and as the number of arbitrary executions per annum climbs in Iran – the UN Human Rights Council decides to condemn the State of Israel for no fault of its own, for acting to defend itself from a murderous terrorist organization.
“The council that has hitherto adopted more decisions against Israel than against all other countries cannot call itself a human rights council,” Netanyahu declared.
Israel and the United States boycotted the Human Rights Council session that discussed the report, which focused more on Israel’s role in the conflict and accepted Palestinian casualty figures. Israel did not cooperate in the investigation, saying the commission was biased against Israel.
World Jewish Congress CEO Robert Singer had also criticized the commission of inquiry, saying: "It is most unfortunate that here is yet another UN Human Rights Council report that puts the democratic State of Israel and the terror group Hamas on the same level, that unfairly accuses Israel of deliberately killing civilians in Gaza and that fails to address Israel’s right under international law to defend its very existence against the threats coming from Gaza.”
Singer added: “If further proof was still needed that the United Nations is biased against Israel, this is it. It is slanderous and wrong to suggest, as the report does, that the Israel Defense Forces is an immoral army, a serial perpetrator of war crimes and a force that deliberately disrespects its international obligations. Repeating it for the umpteenth time doesn’t make it true.
Last Monday, around 1,000 protestors rallied in support of Israel outside the United Nations in Geneva in an event co-organized by the World Jewish Congress.
