UN in Geneva: The Anti-Israel Rhetoric Intensifies

July 22, 2009 - Afternoon Session

This is an updated report from ACLJ Special Counsel Anne Herzberg on Day One of the United Nations meeting in Geneva:

The negative drumbeat against Israel continued as the Committee on the Question of Palestine convened a panel of its hand-picked “experts” to share the results of their “fact finding” missions after the Gaza war.  These presentations were intended to provide the “evidence” for the what the Committee considers to be Israel's violation of international law.  None of the speakers at this session addressed any of the violence or crimes committed by Hamas.

John Dugard, the former UN Rapporteur who was instrumental in the UN General Assembly’s referral for an advisory opinion on Israel’s security barrier to the International Court of Justice in 2004, presented first.   Dugard was the head of the Arab League’s “Fact Finding Mission” on the Gaza War.  Dugard made the legal assertion that Gaza remains “occupied” after Israel’s Disengagement in 2005 and claimed that Israel had no right to self-defense in the face of Hamas rocket attacks on its civilians.  He also said that international laws regarding combating terrorism and its financing had no relevance to his legal analysis of the war. He accused Israel of “war crimes,” “crimes against humanity,” and “genocide” and claimed Israel was “terrorizing” the citizens of Gaza.  Dugard ended his presentation by calling for prosecutions of Israeli military and political figures and urged the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to recognize “Palestine” as a state so that the court can consider Israel’s "crimes."

George Vella, Chair of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean, appeared next.  He accused Israel of “collective punishment” and “indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks” on Gazans.  Following Vella, David Hammerstein, former EU Parliamentarian, also invoked the “collective punishment” charge and claimed Israel’s government was an obstacle to peace because it was “dominated by radical elements.”  Ron Yaron, representative of the EU and Swedish-funded Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-I)claimed IDF investigations were a “whitewash” and not credible.  Last year, the organization claimed a Gaza cancer patient died because Israel allegedly refused to let him leave Gaza for treatment.  Shortly thereafter, however, it was revealed that PHR-I claim was false and the man was alive and well.

Last to present was Human Rights Watch (HRW) researcher, Bill Van Esveld.  Esveld claimed that Israel’s actions against Hamas exceeded “any conceivable military necessity.”  During several points in his speech, Esveld emphasized that the weapons used by Israel were manufactured in the United States.  These statements were intended to bolster an anti-Israel arms boycott campaign led by Amnesty International.   Esveld ended his presentation by claiming Israeli actions amounted to “collective punishment” and that it was critical to ensure “on-going international pressure” on Israel.