Netanyahu vs. UN: Israeli PM slams UNHRC after its report ratified
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked the UN Human Rights Council following a resolution accepting a UNHRC report, which presented evidence of war crimes committed by both Israel and Hamas in the summer of 2014.
It urges the implementation of the report’s recommendations and calls for proper prosecution of Israeli officials responsible for the alleged violations.
The decision comes on the one year anniversary of Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge,” which was launched in response to rocket attacks from Gaza. The commission determined that 1,462 Palestinian civilians were killed, one-third of whom were children. Israeli losses amounted to 67 soldiers and six civilians.
“The UN Human Rights Council is not interested in the facts and is not really interested in human rights,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
READ MORE: Israel considers leaving UN Human Rights Council after Gaza probe – report
Forty-one countries voted in favor of the resolution, while the US was the only country to vote against it. India, Kenya, Ethiopia, Paraguay and Macedonia abstained. The resolution was presented by the Palestinian delegation and backed by Muslim states.
Netanyahu attacked the UNHRC, blaming the organization for condemning Israel on the day a projectile launched from Sinai hit southern Israel.
“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 [Syrian President Bashar] 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,” he added.
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The Israeli leader stressed that UNHR has adopted more resolutions against Israel than the sum of all resolutions against other countries. The council “cannot call itself a human rights council … Those who fear to openly attack terrorism will – in the end – be attacked by terrorism.”
Neither this report, nor any other criticism, will stop Israel from defending its own citizens, according to the prime minister.
“The State of Israel acted to defend itself against a murderous terrorist organization,” he claimed referring to the war in Gaza.
Earlier this week, Netanyahu reportedly questioned his country’s membership in the UNHRC. “In light of the [UN Gaza] report, we will consider whether or not to stay in the Human Rights Council,” Netanyahu said, according to Army Radio.
