UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL - 14TH SESSION - ITEM 7 (ID)

Statement by B’nai B’rith International and the Coordinating Board of Jewish Organizations

Read by Klaus Netter, June 14, 2010

Mr. President:

A careful reading of the Report of the Special Rapporteur reveals not only his usual unbalanced criticisms of Israel, but also arguments that are hardly conducive to reaching a lasting peace agreement between Israel and Palestinian moderates.

In his report, the Special Rapporteur openly questions Israel’s right to self-defense during the 2008/2009* hostilities in Gaza and Southern Israel. He cites a patently hollow pre-war Hamas offer to Israel for a ten-year "cease-fire" in exchange for uncontrolled borders, thereby ending measures meant to stem the flow of arms to the terrorist group. Given Hamas’s history of cease-fire violations, such a deal would have allowed it to amass thousands of rockets and other arms for an onslaught to begin after the ten years, if not much sooner. Hamas has made clear, both in its rhetoric and actions, that it has no interest in peace with Israel. The Special Rapporteur makes no mention of this reality, and in fact, he seeks to mask it.

The Special Rapporteur also objects to the idea that developments subsequent to the 1967 war be taken into account in any peace deal. Thus, he expresses regret that Security Council Resolution 242 does not call for a full return of all refugees; i.e., he would have Israel absorb millions of Palestinians in addition to its 1.5 million Arab citizens. By thereby depriving Israel of its Jewish identity, he effectively nullifies the idea of a two-State solution.

In short, Mr. President, the report does little to advance the peace process, but rather introduces arguments rendering this process even more difficult.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Klaus Netter made the following intervention on the Human Rights Council's recent Flotilla resolution and continuing obsessive focus on Israel.

UN Human Rights Council - 14th Session - Item 7

Statement by B’nai B’rith International and the Coordinating Board of Jewish Organizations

Read by Klaus Netter, June 14, 2010

Mr. President:

We were deeply concerned by this Council's decision earlier this session to dispatch yet another fact-finding commission to investigate an incident to which this Council has already pre-assigned blame on Israel, following in the footsteps of some of the previous resolutions on conflicts involving Israel. We note with sadness that, unless Israel is involved, this Council has found no other conflict situation that it deemed grave enough to dispatch a fact-finding commission.

Mr. President, the flotilla resolution is but the latest symptom of this Council's continued indifference to two of its most basic founding principles: impartiality and non-selectivity. The most obvious symptom of this indifference, of course, continues to be agenda item 7. The focus on item 7 has hardly been balanced or impartial. In the past year, this Council has spent an inordinate amount of time discussing Israel, but yet consistently failed to recognize that there has been great improvement in terms of stability and economic growth in the West Bank thanks to cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

We reiterate our call for this Council to end this agenda item during the course of next year's review of the Council. This Council can only live up to its promise of impartiality and non-selectivity when Israel receives the same treatment as all other states. The best way to start to move in that direction is to refrain from having one permanent agenda item devoted solely to Israel, while discussions about the other 191 U.N. Member States occur under more general agenda items.

Thank you, Mr. President