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B’nai B’rith International has issued the following statement:

B’nai B’rith International is outraged by yet another display of anti-Israel bias by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC). A panel of three judges working at the behest of the UNHRC released its “findings” on Jan. 31, saying Israel is in violation of the Geneva Convention with its settlements in “Palestine.”

The panel said Israel must withdraw from all settlements or Israelis could be tried for war crimes at the International Criminal Court, should “Palestine” sign on to the Rome treaty, as Palestinian leaders have repeatedly threatened to do. The panel also suggested that businesses cut ties to business interests in the settlements.

This is yet another example of the UNHRC’s prejudice against Israel. When this supposed “fact-finding mission” was created, there was never any doubt that the panel’s report would return with conclusions and recommendations that were anti-Israel. The fact that the UNHRC continues its unrelenting focus on Israel while ignoring actual human rights crises in other United Nations member states is absurd.

The UNHRC’s actions are counterproductive and defy insistence by the international Quartet for Middle East peace, of which the United Nations itself is a member, that progress be made through direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. This latest UNHRC action prejudges the outcome of such a negotiation.