News
Israel urging Western governments to oppose UN-backed Gaza report
According to reports, Israel has launched a diplomatic initiative to counter the impact of a report published this week by a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) – appointed commission into Operation Protective Edge.
The report concluded that both Israel and Hamas may have been responsible for war crimes during last summer’s Gaza conflict. Israeli leaders criticised the report, calling it inherently biased, given that the commission’s mandate, which Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond described as “fundamentally unbalanced” appeared to target Israel. Meanwhile, the UNHRC itself has a track record of hostility towards Israel, the only country which it is mandated to discuss at each session. A statement from Israel’s Foreign Ministry lamented “that the report fails to recognise the profound difference between Israel’s moral behaviour during Operation Protective Edge and the terror organisations it confronted.”
According to both Yediot Ahronot and Haaretz, Israel is now taking action to persuade Western countries to distance themselves from the report. The UNHRC is expected to vote on adopting the report in the coming days and could refer the document to the UN General Assembly and eventually the UN Security Council for further consideration.
Haaretz says that Aviv Shiron, the Foreign Ministry’s deputy director general has instructed Israeli embassies in Europe to place “every effort” in reaching the “highest-ranking officials … in order to convey our message and influence their policies.” Shiron urged Israeli diplomats to “prompt them to voice opposition to the report, and the framework in which it was created, to cast doubt on the committee’s mandate, the biased nature of the council, and its constant singling out of Israel.”
Yediot Ahronot says that Israel is looking to form a “moral majority coalition of enlightened countries” to oppose the report. US State Department spokesman John Kirby yesterday indicated Washington’s support for such a stance, commenting, “We don’t believe that there is a call or a need for further Security Council work on this. We don’t support any more UN work on this report.”