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B’nai B’rith International has sent a letter to United Nations officials urging discontinuation of a prejudicial Human Rights Council investigation into the Gaza flotilla incident of May 31.In the letter to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Human Rights Council President Sihasak Phuangketkeow, B’nai B’rith endorsed a statement by U.S. Ambassador Susan E. Rice that the agreement by Israel and Turkey to cooperate with a “panel of inquiry” initiated by Ban would “obviat[e] the need for any overlapping international inquiries.”

The letter from B’nai B’rith President Dennis W. Glick and Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin notes that a Council probe “is inappropriate and highly unhelpful especially as its prospective activity would coincide with the aforementioned panel. Moreover, it would lack fundamental credibility in light of a biased mandate and predetermined conclusions set by the Human Rights Council and reflected in the very framing of the mission. This approach does little to promote human rights or genuine peace and security in the Middle East, let alone the standing of the United Nations and its key bodies.”

Glick and Mariaschin stressed that the U.N. investigation must “demonstrate respect for: the equal treatment of U.N. member states; the essential imperatives of self-defense and counterterrorism; as well as Israel’s sovereign capacity for intensive internal examination that has met the highest international standards.”

To read the letter click here.