U.N. Human Rights Council Declares Israel Guilty

Goldstone II: U.N. Human Rights Council Declares Israel Guilty in High Seas Intifada, Creates Probe to Find Facts

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Geneva, June 2, 2010 — The U.N. Human Rights Council voted 32 to 3 to adopt an Arab and Islamic-sponsored resolution (click here for final amended text) that began by declaring Israel guilty of committing an "outrageous attack" in monday's Intifada on the high seas, and ended by creating a probe to find the facts.

UN Watch, a non-governmental human rights monitoring group in Geneva, praised the U.S., Italy and Netherlands for opposing the "deeply flawed" text, as well as Belgium, France, Hungary, Slovakia, Ukraine, U.K., Japan, South Korea, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Zambia and Madagacar for refusing to support the resolution by abstaining or absenting themselves. Click here for full voting chart.

"This is a highly politicized and inflammatory resolution that undermines the cause of peace and human rights by emboldening the Hamas terrorist group and its extremist supporters, including those who resorted to pre-meditated violence on the Marmara ship," said UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer. (See below for UN Watch speech during UNHRC debate.)

"Not surprsisingly, the sponsors of the text include the chief military, financial and political sponsors of Hamas -- Iran and Syria -- along with such tyrannies as genocidal Sudan and dictatorial Libya."

"By declaring Israel guilty before collecting facts, the resolution taints its fact-finding mission from the start with prejudicial bias, thereby violating the fundamental principles of natural justice, common sense, as well the UN's own Declaration on Fact Finding, which requires objectivity and impartiality."

"Tragically, rather than contribute to defusing the Arab-Israeli conflict, the UN Human Rights Council has once again chpsen to throw oil onto the fire."

UN Watch’s written version of the speech delivered this morning to the Council, as submitted to the UN's official record.

ENDS

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