The United Nations Human Rights Council on Tuesday passed a critical resolution to Israel with an overwhelming majority, with France, Germany, the Netherlands and Italy supporting the motion.
The text contains 19 paragraphs criticizing Israel’s policies, with only one referring to rockets fired at the Jewish state, a UN watchdog said. It was adopted by 22 votes to 6 against and 8 abstentions.
UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-profit organization that monitors the world body’s alleged anti-Israel bias, issued a statement condemning the resolution passed on Tuesday.
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“The fact that this resolution was written literally by the Palestinians, with co-sponsors that include Pakistan on behalf of Islamic states, as well as the Maduro regime in Venezuela, is clear from the widespread condemnation of the text to Israeli actions, without any mention. to Hamas, Islamic Jihad or the Palestinian Authority, ”said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
UNHRC has just adopted the resolution on “Human Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.
• 19 pars criticize Israel
• 1 criticizes rockets against Israel, but does not mention the name of Hamas
• No mention of the oppression of Hamas and the PAShame on France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands for joining the jackals. pic.twitter.com/E5Pr0J5Wla
– Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) March 23, 2021
Bahrain, a Gulf nation that recently established ties with Israel, did not attend the vote. The countries that voted against the motion were Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Malawi and Togo.
In addition, the agency noted that India switched from a “yes” vote last year to abstention on Tuesday.
Denmark, Japan, Mexico, Poland, South Korea and Uruguay also voted in favor of the resolution, which expressed “serious concern about reports of serious violations of human rights and serious violations of international humanitarian law, including possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem. “
The resolution also denounced Israel’s “preferential treatment” of settlers in the West Bank over Palestinians.
Hillel Neuer (Michal Fattal / Flash 90)
“If the resolution were really about Palestinian human rights, it would not have completely ignored the abuses of the Palestinian Authority, including arbitrary deaths, torture and arbitrary detention,” said Neuer.
Israel has strongly criticized the rights council over the years, saying it focuses disproportionately on the Jewish state, while ignoring abuses of autocratic regimes and governments – and even accepting them as members.
A permanent element on the council’s agenda is item 7 (“the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories”), which since its adoption in 2007 has chosen Israel for perpetual censorship, a measure that no other country faces in UN body.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the board in 2018 because of his disproportionate focus on Israel and because he failed to meet an extensive list of reforms demanded by the then U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley.
Under the new Biden government, the United States announced that it would return to the council, but emphasized that it was “flawed and in need of reform”.
