Pro-Israel supporters demonstrate against UN report

Keystone

Almost 1,000 protesters gathered outside the United Nations building in Geneva on Monday to protest a UN Human Rights Council report that accuses both Israel and Palestine of committing war crimes. 

Protestors from around Europe came to Geneva to show their support for Israel. The street in front of the Palais des Nations was closed to traffic, and a police cordon was in place due to the scale of the protest. 

“It is not the Human Rights Council but the Palestinian Council for Human Rights,” Eviatar Manor, Israel’s ambassador to the UN told the press. 

Izhak Dayan, the Grand Rabbi of the Israeli community in Geneva was also present at the demonstration. 

Israeli opposition 

The reportExternal link, entitled “Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories,” was released on June 22, but was formally presented at the 29^th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. It contains the findings of an independent commission that was created in September 2014 to look into human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. 

The report concluded that, “…the commission was able to gather substantial information pointing to serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law by Israel and by Palestinian armed groups. In some cases, these violations may amount to war crimes”. 

The Israeli foreign ministry accused the UNHRC of bias in a statementExternal link released on June 22. 

“This report was commissioned by a notoriously biased institution, given an obviously biased mandate,” said the press release. “It is regrettable that the report fails to recognise the profound difference between Israel’s moral behaviour during Operation Protective Edge and the terror organizations it confronted.”