The UNHRC continues with its blind hatred towards Israel, while failing to address true travesties.
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) again exposed its deep hatred of Israel when it chose to condemn Israel’s judicial system, while failing to relate to countries with no judicial process.
On Friday, the UNHRC condemned an Israeli military court ruling which sentenced IDF Sgt. Elor Azaria to 18 months in prison on Wednesday, after finding him guilty of manslaughter in January.
Azaria was also demoted to the rank of Private and received another 12-months suspended sentence.
Last March, Azaria, a combat medic stationed in Hebron, shot a neutralized terrorist in the head as he lay wounded on the ground after committing a stabbing attack against the soldier’s colleagues.
The UNHRC said it was “deeply disturbed at the lenient sentence” given by the military court.
“While the prosecution and conviction are very welcome steps towards accountability, the punishment, which is excessively lenient, is difficult to reconcile with the intentional killing of an unarmed and prone individual. It also stands in contrast to the sentences handed down by other Israeli courts for other less serious offences, notably the sentencing of Palestinian children to more than three years’ imprisonment for throwing stones at cars. This case risks undermining confidence in the justice system and reinforcing the culture of impunity,” the UNHRC stated.
The UNHRC also alleged that other IDF soldiers, who should have been tried, escaped without facing justice.
“More than 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli security forces since the most recent upsurge in violence. Sergeant Azaria is the only member of the Israeli security forces to have been brought to trial for such a killing,” the UNHRC stated.
The UNHRC failed to remark that these Palestinians were killed while carrying out terror attacks or violently rioting.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon slammed the UNHRC for its bias against the Jewish State.
“The UN Human Rights Council sits silently by as human rights are crushed in Syria and Iran and then, in the peak of hypocrisy, criticizes the only true democracy in the Middle East. This proves once again that this body is completely divorced from reality. The credibility and integrity of the Israeli justice system is indisputable,” he stated.
Will the US Leave the UNHRC?
The UNHRC may finally face consequences for its hounding of Israel.
Politico reported on Saturday that the Trump administration is considering pulling the UNHRC, according to two sources in regular contact with former and current US officials.
A former State Department official briefed on the discussions told Politico that while the council’s targeting of Israel is likely part of the debate, there are also questions about its members, several of whom are human rights abusers, and doubts about its usefulness overall.
Countries known for human rights abuses, such as China and Saudi Arabia, are council members.
In a recent meeting with mid-level State Department officials, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson expressed skepticism about the council.
The Human Rights Council was established in 2006. It replaced the UN Human Rights Commission, which had faced severe criticism because countries with poor rights records became members and blocked its mission.
The Bush administration refused to join the new council, questioning its efficacy. Under President Barack Obama, the US felt it was more useful to influence the council from the inside, including by speaking out in support of Israel.
However, even former US Secretary of State John Kerry said the UNHRC must cease with its “excessive and biased focus on Israel.”
“No one in this room can deny there is an unbalanced focus on one democratic country,” Kerry said. “It must be said that the HRC’s obsession with Israel risks undermining the credibility of the entire organization,” Kerry stated in March 2016.
Over a decade, the council has passed 62 resolutions condemning the reasonable actions Israel takes to defend its security. Meanwhile, the world’s worst human rights abusers in Syria, Iran, and North Korea received far fewer condemnations.
