GENEVA, Friday 5 April 2024
The Human Rights Council has just adopted a resolution supposedly addressing accountability and justice.
But in adopting this resolution – the 105th targeting Israel – this Council spoke loud and clear: to the overwhelming majority of its members, Israelis do not matter, the murder of Jews does not matter, the hostages do not matter, the rape of Israeli women does not matter. Where is the accountability for the Israeli victims of Palestinian terrorism?
Where is the accountability for the death of Lidor Levy, who succumbed yesterday to his wounds following a terrorist attack earlier this week? Where is the justice for his pregnant wife, his six month old baby daughter, his parents and his brother and sister?
Where are the human rights of the hostages being held by Hamas, currently being raped and starved in captivity?
All that matters to this Council and many of its members, is condemning Israel, singling out the only Jewish State, and protecting Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and all those who seek to destroy our country.
This resolution is stain on the Human Rights Council and on the United Nations as a whole.
I will not attend the rest of this session. I can no longer sit in the room of this so-called Human Rights Council that can not even bring itself to mention Hamas, or its brutal terrorist attacks on October 7.
It cannot even condemn the brutal murder of over 1200 of my people; the kidnapping of over 240 individuals, including infants; the rape, mutilations and sexual abuse of Israeli women, girls and men.
“Me too unless you’re a Jew” is the overwhelming message from the Council today.
This Council, and all its members who voted yes to this resolution, have also shamelessly equated the Israeli and foreign hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, women and children snatched from their homes, with those detained in Israeli prisons, many of whom took part in the October 7 massacre and are active members of terrorist groups. This is abhorrent, and utterly condemnable.
Not just this, it failed to mention the continuous terrorist attacks against Israelis committed by Palestinians from the West Bank, and the Palestinians’ Pay-to-Slay policy which encourages and rewards these terrorists for murdering innocent Israelis. It also failed to address the antisemitic, racist and genocidal calls by Palestinian leaders from both Hamas and the PA.
This resolution was brought to the front by the Palestinian Authority. The same “revitalized” PA, whose new Minister for Religion called Jews “apes and pigs” and called for people to “afflict the Jews with the worst torment”.
This is who we are dealing with. Is this the partner that Western countries and the International Community want to support?
For Israel, every human life lost is a tragedy – for Hamas it is a strategy. Today’s call for an arms embargo on Israel is a sign of support for this deadly strategy, and an endorsement for Hamas and its allies.
There was no call for an arms embargo against Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, no call on Iran to stop its support for these terrorist groups. This Council cannot even bring itself to demand that Hamas lay down its weapons, after it murdered hundreds of my people in cold blood.
Israel’s only goals in this war are simple: bring back home the 134 hostages still held in Gaza, destroy Hamas’ terrorist infrastructures and capabilities, and ensure the protection of Israel’s population.
These are not only legitimate objectives, they are our obligations and duty as a State, as recognized by International Law.
I want to thank all the delegations who did not support this resolution and demonstrated moral leadership. The human rights of Israelis must be ensured, as much as anyone’s else.
This Council has long abandoned reason. It has long abandoned the human rights of Israelis and Jews. Today’s vote was one of the darkest days in the history of this Council, and the history of the UN.
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