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Head of UN inquiry on Gaza war crimes resigns over Israel bias
Prof. William Schabas has resigned as head of a United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) commission of inquiry over Operation Protective Edge.
The UNHRC has a track record of hostility towards Israel and Israel’s government decided not to officially cooperate with the investigation when it was announced in August that it would be headed by Schabas, a Canadian international law expert who teaches at Middlesex University. Schabas is an outspoken critic of Israel, who said in 2013, “My favourite would be [Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu within the dock of the International Criminal Court (ICC),” while several years earlier he called for the ICC to pursue Israel’s former President Shimon Peres. Reacting to Schabas’s appointment at the time, Netanyahu commented that in effect, the report “had already been written.”
Consequently, Israel did not permit the inquiry’s commissioners, Schabas, Gabon diplomat Baudelaire Ndong Ella and former New York Supreme Court judge Mary McGowan to enter the country. However, Israeli officials did give the green light for southern residents to give their testimony last month after thousands of rockets were fired at their communities during the 50-day conflict.
It recently emerged that Schabas had in 2012 been paid £865 to provide a legal opinion to the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). The revelation prompted the UNHCR to seek legal advice on Schabas’s position. Under the circumstances, Schabas yesterday resigned as head of the inquiry, saying, “I believe that it is difficult for the work to continue while a procedure is underway to consider whether the chair of the commission should be removed.” It is unclear how Schabas’s resignation will impact the inquiry’s timetable with evidence having already been gathered and the report currently being written for publication scheduled as early as next month.
Meanwhile, the IDF continues to investigate 13 criminal probes regarding the summer Gaza conflict. The Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee is also examining the defence establishment’s conduct during the operation.