The Zionist Federation of Australia welcomes the Australian Government’s rejection of the UN Human Rights Council’s disproportionate focus on Israel.
On Monday, the new Australian Government rejected the proposition that Israel should be a permanent Human Rights Council agenda item and expressed its “fundamental concerns about the nature” of the Human Rights Council’s permanent commission of inquiry into Israel.
ZFA President Jeremy Leibler said, “We welcome the Albanese Government’s principled stand against the idea that Israel should be a permanent agenda item at the Human Rights Council, and its refusal to participate in such discussions. In doing so, the Government has maintained the bipartisan consensus that Israel should be treated like all other countries. We also welcome the government’s expression of its fundamental concerns with the commission of inquiry.”
After the initial commission of inquiry report was released last week, Mr Leibler said, “Just as Israel is the Human Rights Council’s only permanent agenda item, this commission of inquiry is the Human Rights Council’s only permanent investigation. All three commissioners have made public antagonistic comments about Israel prior to their appointment, such that it is practicing apartheid, or participating in ethnic cleansing, and should be boycotted. These positions should invalidate their involvement, given the UN Human Rights Council’s staff impartiality requirements, and should make all objective people question their findings.”
Mr Leibler continued, “By the authors’ own admission, the report focuses disproportionately on Israel, perhaps best exemplified by the fact Hamas is mentioned three times in 18 pages, compared to 157 mentions of Israel. It also ignores evidence or context that reveals the conflict’s complexity and the culpability of Palestinian factions in perpetuating the violence.”
