Israel Matzav

Thursday, March 22, 2012

And again: 'Human rights council' to 'investigate' whether and if the 'settlements' hurt 'Palestinians'

Israel Radio reports that a 'diplomatic source' said on Thursday evening that Israel will not cooperate with a 'fact-finding' mission to be sent by the United Nations 'human rights council' to 'investigate' whether and if the 'settlements' hurt 'Palestinians.' There was no indication of what form such non-cooperation might take, but the source cited the Goldstone Commission in the aftermath of Operation Cast Lead. Israel did not submit any materials to Goldstone and did not allow the Goldstone Commission members to enter the country.

Earlier in the evening, Prime Minister Netanyahu blasted the 'human rights council,' which voted 36-1 with ten abstentions (the US was the only no vote) to create the 'fact-finding' mission.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the UN's decision, calling the Human Rights Council "hypocritical."

"This is a hypocritical council with an automatic majority against Israel," Netanyahu said. "Until today, the council has made 91 decisions, 39 of which dealt with Israel, three with Syria and one with Iran," he said.

"This is a council that should be ashamed of itself. The UN Human Rights Council has no connection to human rights," he said. "This council has proven once more that it is detached from reality, by inviting a member of Hamas – an organization whose creed advocated the murder of innocent people, to speak before it."

A source in Netanyahu's office said Israel would not cooperate with the investigation which he described as biased, adding that Israel did not want to give it legitimacy.

I know that there are probably some of you saying that Israel has nothing to hide and that therefore we ought to cooperate. There were people who said that after the Goldstone Report came out as well (although Israel did not cooperate with Goldstone, it did submit evidence - through back channels - that was ignored). If that describes you, please consider what former Israeli ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev has to say on the issue:

Professor Gabriela Shalev, formally Israel's UN ambassador, told Ynet Thursday that "The Human Rights Council is a biased, anti-Israeli body that has passed more resolutions against Israel than against any other UN member.

"When the council was formed in 2006 there was hope that it would change things, but those hopes soon faded, because it doesn’t address human rights issues and it doesn’t monitor what's going on in countries like the Congo, China and Iran, where human rights and the rights of women and children are constantly violated – but those countries escape censure," she said.

"On the other hand, since there are many Arab nations on the council, Palestine enjoys an automatic majority; and the result is that his body is motivated by political interests and not by the desire to protect human rights.

"I think that it is up to the Foreign Ministry to decide whether allow the council into Israel," she continued. "I don’t think that the Foreign Ministry will cooperate… even if some nay think that Israel would be better off demonstrating transparency – in this case transparency doesn’t really exist because the results have already been determined against Israel," Shalev concluded.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Binyamin Netanyahu, Gabriella Shalev, Judea and Samaria, United Nations Human Rights Council

Sunday, February 13, 2011

A shuffle in the government

The government announced on Sunday that Israel's ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, will become its ambassador to the United Nations, and that Prime Minister Netanyahu's National Security Adviser, Uzi Arad, will become Israel's ambassador to Britain. But note this:

Netanyahu had favored returning Dore Gold to his former position as ambassador to the UN, but Lieberman preferred Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky. The Foreign Minister already irked Prime Minister Netanyahu last summer by naming Meron Reuven as temporary ambassador, after Prof. Gabriella Shalev left the post.

Of course, Sharansky said last week that he had no interest in being ambassador to the United Nations....

JPost adds that Lieberman had other candidates for the UN position, which has to make you wonder whether what he was really saying was "anyone but Dore Gold" (which seems kind of irrational given that Gold has ably performed in the position in the past).

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman have sparred over the post for nearly a year, with the prime minister wanting former ambassador Dore Gold to return to the UN and Lieberman suggesting Environment Minister Gilad Erdan and former consul-general in New York Alon Pinkas.

According to the report, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Meir Kalifi will replace Arad as national security advisor.

I know nothing about Kalifi, but I think that Dore Gold would be a great candidate for National Security Adviser.

Pinkas would have been a disaster at the UN.

Labels: Alon Pinkas, Avigdor Lieberman, Binyamin Netanyahu, Dore Gold, Gabriella Shalev, Gilad Erdan, Meir Kalifi, Meron Reuven, Natan Sharansky, Ron Prosor, Uzi Arad