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Israel criticizes UN Gaza war crimes investigation

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday strongly criticized the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) investigation into possible war crimes that were committed during recent fighting in the Gaza Strip. In an interview with a reporter, Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the probe is an attempt to demonize Israel and that it has no moral ground. Palmor also condemned the UNHRC as unreliable and having the worst history of all the organizations within the UN. The criticism came the same day that the UNHRC announced the appointment of South African judge Richard Goldstone to head the fact-finding mission. Israel has not said if it will cooperate with the probe, which was originally approved by the UNHCR in January. The impetus for the probe was a report, authored by UN Special Rapporteur Richard Falk, which criticized Israel for failing to take adequate precautions to distinguish between civilians and combatants in their offensives in the region. Both Israel and the US criticized the report, calling the rapporteur's views "anything but fair." An internal Israeli military investigation found earlier this week that war crimes had not been committed in the offensive despite individual reports by Israeli soldiers. Israel has already disputed a previous report to the UNHRC that accused it of human rights violations. In January, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said that it lacked standing to investigate possible war crimes in Gaza.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on April 04, 2009 (boomark / email).