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News > World

Israel to Cut Ties with UN Human Rights Council: Reports

  • Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem June 28, 2015.

    Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting at his office in Jerusalem June 28, 2015. | Photo: Reuters

Published 30 June 2015
Opinion

It’s not the first time Tel Aviv decides to cut ties with the UNHRC, having ended its membership over an investigation into settlements in the West Bank.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering quitting the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) following the report by the Commission of Inquiry on Israel’s 2014 assault on Gaza, a radio network run by the Israeli Army said Monday.

"As a result of the report, we will consider whether to remain or to leave the council," the prime minister said according to Israel's Army Radio.

RELATED: Starting The Clock: The Gaza Crisis

The report, which was released last week, says that “Israel did not respond” to repeated requests for information to aid the investigation, adding that “the commission learned from a press release that no such cooperation would be forthcoming.”

It also alleges that “war crimes” may have been committed by both the Israeli state and the Hamas resistance movement.

This is not the first time that the government of Tel Aviv decides to cut ties with the U.N. human rights body. In 2012, Israel ended its membership over an investigation into illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank, only to restore relations one year later.

The Israeli leader, who is known for outbursts, said there was “no limit” to the “hipocrisy” of the U.N., after Secretary General Ban Ki-moon singled out Israel in a Security Council debate last week on children hurt in armed conflicts.

The U.N. report on the offensive that devastated Gaza’s highlights the fact that Israel launched more than 6,000 airstrikes and fired 50,000 artillery shells in the 50-day assault. More than 2,140 Palestinians, most of them civilians including women and children, were killed.

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