Israeli ambassador condemns UN commission for 'one-sided' report on Palestinian conflict
A number of countries said the UN Human Rights Council's report on Israeli-Palestinian conflict was one-sided
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A UN Human Rights Council commission of inquiry presented a report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Thursday that Israel and its allies said was one-sided and failed to advance peace in the region.
The commission's chair Navi Pillay, at the opening of a UN meeting discussing her report, said that she was examining "the root causes" of the "protracted conflict spanning three quarters of a century," a reference to the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. She then, however, said that one root cause was Israel's continued presence in the West Bank, which only began in 1967.
"After 55 years Israel is treating the occupation as a permanent fixture," Pillay said, asserting that Israel has engaged in a "de facto annexation" of the Palestinian territories.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In response to Pillay and her commission's report, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan noted that the commission only blamed Israel for the situation, ignoring Palestinian violence.
Israel's United Nations Ambassador Gilad Erdan slammed the United Nations over its Commission of Inquiry into Israel, Thursday, for its one-sided report against the Jewish state. (Israeli Mission to the United Nations.) (Israeli Mission to the UN)
"The Commission of Inquiry report being presented is a one-sided, terror white-washing, and morally bankrupt document that does nothing – nothing – remotely productive for the Palestinians or the region," Erdan said. "In fact, it only makes matters worse. It shows that terrorists of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the true oppressors of the Palestinian people, that terror pays off."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Erdan added: "Their report deliberately omits any mention of Hamas or their thousands of indiscriminately fired rockets, while exclusively placing all the blame for every aspect of the conflict on the law-abiding, liberal democracy of Israel."
Accompanying Erdan to the meeting were the parents of 5-year-old Ido Avigal, who was killed when a Hamas rocket hit his family's home in Israel.
"Can you look into the eyes of Ido’s parents and explain to them why you deliberately ignored their son’s murder?" Erdan asked. "How can you be so heartless? How?"
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Erdan referred to the commission's work as an "inquisition" and called the commission and the Human Rights Council a "mockery." He said that the only reason why Pillay was chosen to lead the commission was that she had previously demonized Israel as an "apartheid" state.
Outgoing U.N. Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay talks during an interview to Reuters in her office in Geneva August 19, 2014. Clashes between police and protesters in the U.S. town of Ferguson are reminiscent of the racial violence spawned by apartheid in her native South Africa, Pillay said on Tuesday. (REUTERS/Ruben Sprich) (Reuters)
"Shame! Shame! Shame!" he shouted at the council.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Prior to the meeting, Erdan addressed the media and noted the commission is an example of the council's disproportionate focus on Israel. He noted that 30% of the council’s commissions of inquiry target Israel, and they have condemned Israel more than they have condemned Syria, Iran, and North Korea combined.
"It’s clear that the council has an obsession – an obsession – with Israel," he said.
This sentiment was echoed by several other countries after Pillay gave her presentation. Hungary, Germany, Australia, Canada, and the United States were among those who spoke out against the council's disproportionate focus on Israel. The U.S. said the commission's report "does nothing to advance peace between Israelis and Palestinians," a sentiment also expressed by the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, who described the report as one-sided.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Palestinian delegation, however, thanked Pillay for a "factual and law-based report" and called her "a champion of human rights." Among the countries that also supported the commission and its report was Malaysia, Indonesia, Russia, Turkey, and Iran.
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Several countries mainly took issue with the broad scope of the commission. The European Union, Albania, and Uruguay were among those who said they did not support the creation of the commission for that reason.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Following the comments from the various member states, Pillay had the floor again. She denied being antisemitic, saying she is 81 years old and had never been called that before. She also sympathized with the Avigal family and said the commission and its members "unequivocally condemn any acts of violence."