U.N. calls for investigation of Israel
Ignores 'double war crime' of Hamas
attacking, hiding behind civilians
United Nations Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a joint news
conference in Tel Aviv, Israel, July 22
By Delia M. Arias De Leon
UNITED NATIONS – As Hamas continues to target Israeli
civilians with rockets and use Palestinian civilians as human shields, United
Nations members calling for an investigation of Israel’s
defensive operation to shut down the terrorist infrastructure in Gaza.
The Geneva-based United
Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution Wednesday calling
for an international investigation into alleged violations committed by Israel
during its ongoing military defense operation.
The meeting was convened a meeting at the
request of Egypt, Pakistan and the state of Palestine, which has been granted observer
status at the U.N.
Member states during the meeting
“condemned in the strongest possible terms” Israel’s
military operation and passed a resolution demanding an “immediate cessation of
Israeli military assaults” on what they referred to as the “Occupied Palestinian
Territory.”
Of 47 countries, 17 abstained and 29 voted
in favor of the resolution. Only the United States voted against it.
Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu
was outraged by the vote, calling it a “travesty.” In a public Facebook post,
he argued the U.N. had it exactly backwards.
“Rather than investigate Hamas, which is
committing a double war crime by firing rockets at Israeli civilians while
hiding behind Palestinian civilians, the UNHRC calls for an investigation of
Israel, which has gone to unprecedented lengths to keep Palestinian civilians
out of harm’s way.”
Navi Pillay, U.N. high commissioner for
human rights, claimed “there seems to be a strong possibility that
international law has been violated, in a manner that could account to war
crimes,” referring to air strikes and the shelling and bombing of hospitals
that have occurred during Israel’s military operation.
Pillay also condemned Hamas for
“indiscriminate attacks on Israel”
but did not delve deeper into Israel’s
claims that Hamas has been purposefully and strategically hiding rockets in
densely populated areas.
Israel’s envoy to the UNHCR, Eviatar Manor,
responded to the accusations.
“There can be no moral symmetry between a
terrorist aggressor and a democracy defending itself,” Manor said.
After the resolution was passed, he
questioned how naming and shaming Israel would achieve anything and
wondered when the U.N. would realize Hamas was the one perpetrating war crimes.
The UNHRC vote followed a week of intense
debating at the United Nations Security Council at the U.N.’s New York City headquarters, which failed to
produce a resolution while showcasing decidedly pro-Palestinian sentiments.
Throughout the course of UNSC debates, a
majority of states condemned Israel’s
actions and demanded an immediate cease-fire and de-escalation of the conflict.
During an emergency session Tuesday morning, Palestinian Ambassador Riyad
Mansour went so far as to pull out graphic pictures of the dead and wounded,
stating, “We are not just numbers, we are human beings.”
Israel’s permanent representative to the United
Nations, Ron Prosor, in return, emphatically reminded U.N. representatives that
the Palestinian government, Hamas, has been designated by several countries as
a terrorist group.
If Israel
were to lay down its arms, there would be no more Israel, he said.
“The equation is simple” he stated during
the Tuesday emergency meeting. “When it is quiet in Israel,
it will be quiet in Gaza.
… Israel is fighting in Gaza, not against the people of Gaza.”
However, the international community’s
reprobation of Israel’s
defensive strategy is only likely to worsen. Thursday morning, a United
Nations-run school in Gaza
sheltering civilians came under attack, killing dozens, including children and
U.N. staff.
Israel contends it sought to evacuate the
building but Hamas refused, because the terrorist organization wanted to
maintain the civilians as human shields.
UNRWA spokesman Chris Guiness tweeted that
over the course of the day, UNRWA tried to coordinate a cease-fire window for
civilians to leave the school but the request was not granted.
The Israel Defense Forces
denied the claim, according to by Israel National News.
“This morning we sought a cease-fire in
the area and a humanitarian evacuation of civilians, but Hamas refused –
because they wanted to keep civilians in the area to protect their fighters who
were firing on the IDF.”
After the incident, the U.N. secretary
general, Ban Ki-moon, at a press conference with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, said both sides must stop fighting and start
talking.
“I am telling to the parties – both the
Israelis and Hamas and Palestinians – that it is morally wrong to kill your own
people. The whole world has been watching, is watching, with great concern. You
must stop fighting, and enter into dialogue. Whatever grievances you may have,
this is wrong. Why are you continuing to kill people? There are many other ways
to resolve this issue without killing each other.”
UNITED NATIONS
Dan
Gillerman was the Israeli
ambassador for the United Nations,
and is a friend of Haim Saban.
Note: Haim
Saban is a friend of Dan Gillerman,
married to Cheryl Saban, a friend of Shimon Peres, a board member for the Friends of
the Israel Defense Forces, the treasurer for the Saban Family Foundation, a benefactor for the Saban Center for Middle East Policy, a trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and was a major
contributor for the 2011 Rahm Emanuel mayoral
campaign.
Cheryl Saban
is married to Haim Saban, the president of the Saban Family Foundation, the U.S. rep nominee at the 67th
General Assembly session for the United Nations General
Assembly, and was a major contributor for the 2011 Rahm
Emanuel mayoral campaign.
Saban
Family Foundation was a funder for the Friends of the Israel
Defense Forces, the American Israel Education
Foundation, and the Brookings Institution
(think tank).
American
Israel Education Foundation is the charitable arm for AIPAC.
AIPAC is a U.S.-based
lobby group for Israel.
Shimon
Peres is the president of Israel, and a friend of Haim Saban.
United
Nations is the body for the United Nations General
Assembly.
Saban
Center for Middle East Policy is a policy center for the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank), and Human Rights
First.
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to
Promote Open Society.
Cyrus
F. Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Rahm I.
Emanuel is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago,
the Chicago (IL) mayor, was a candidate for
the 2011 Rahm Emanuel mayoral campaign, a civilian
volunteer for the Israel Defense Forces,
and the White House chief of staff for the Barack Obama
administration.
R. Eden
Martin is the president of the Commercial Club of Chicago,
and counsel at Sidley Austin LLP.
Michelle
Obama was a lawyer at Sidley Austin LLP.
Barack Obama
was an intern at Sidley Austin LLP.
Sidley
Austin LLP is the lobby firm for Israel.
Newton N.
Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP,
a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and
was Adlai Ewing
Stevenson II’s assistant counsel.
Adlai
Ewing Stevenson II’s assistant counsel was Newton N.
Minow, and a U.S.
ambassador for the United Nations.
Mark A.
Angelson was a partner at Sidley Austin LLP,
and a director at Human Rights First.
James D.
Zirin is a senior counsel at Sidley Austin LLP,
and was a director at Human Rights First.
Harold H. Koh
was a director at Human Rights First,
a delegate for the United Nations Commission
on Human Rights, a trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and a legal adviser at the U.S. Department of State for the Barack Obama
administration.
Teresa
Heinz Kerry is an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and married to John F.
Kerry.
John F. Kerry
is married to Teresa Heinz Kerry, the secretary at
the U.S. Department of State for the Barack Obama administration, and Cameron F.
Kerry’s brother.
Cameron
F. Kerry is John F. Kerry’s brother, and a fellow
at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Joan E. Spero
was an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), the under secretary of state for the U.S. Department of State, a U.S. representative for the United Nations Economic & Social Council, and the U.S
ambassador for economic & social affairs for the United
Nations.
Cass R.
Sunstein is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and married to Samantha Power.
Samantha
Power is married to Cass R. Sunstein,
and the United Nations U.S. ambassador for the Barack Obama administration.
Susan E.
Rice is the White House national security adviser for the Barack Obama administration, was the assistant secretary at
the U.S. Department of State, a United Nations U.S. ambassador for the Barack Obama
administration, and a senior fellow at the Brookings
Institution (think tank).
Donald F.
McHenry was a United Nations U.S. ambassador,
and is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank).
Thomas
R. Pickering was a United Nations U.S.
ambassador, the under secretary at the U.S. Department of State,
is the council chairman for the United Nations Association,
a distinguished fellow at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and a co-chair for the International
Crisis Group.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution (think tank), and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank).
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to
Promote Open Society, and is a board member for the International Crisis Group.
Jessica Tuchman Mathews
was an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), a board member for the International Crisis Group, the under secretary for the U.S. Department of State, is a member of the is the
president of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), a director at the American Friends
of Bilderberg (think tank), and a
2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Ed Griffin’s interview
with Norman Dodd in 1982
(The investigation into
the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace uncovered the plans for
population control by involving the United States in war)
Kofi A.
Annan is a board member for the International Crisis Group,
a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace (think tank), a director at the United Nations Foundation, was the secretary general for the
United Nations, and his lawyer was Gregory B. Craig.
Gregory
B. Craig was Kofi A. Annan’s lawyer, the White
House counsel for the Barack Obama
administration, a director of policy planning for the U.S. Department of State, and is a trustee at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think
tank).
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