The nations continue their Israel-bashing ritual
6 April 2022
The UN Human Rights Council, based in Geneva, has an inbuilt, institutional bias against Israel. No other country attracts as many condemnatory resolutions as Israel. No other country is a permanent item on the UNHRC’s agenda (the infamous agenda item 7).
In 2021, the Council established a permanent Commission of Inquiry to investigate war crimes and human rights violations in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This is the only inquiry of its nature. Its mandate is heavily skewed against Israel. It has a huge budget, and 18 full-time staff. The Commission’s Chairwoman, Navi Pillay, has a record of outspoken malicious hatred of Israel. In June, the Commission will start to issue reports about Israeli and Palestinian human rights violations; but the content of these reports is a foregone conclusion.
On 25th March, the Council received, debated and adopted the latest report by Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian territories, Michael Lynk, in which he accused Israel of adopting apartheid policies. According to Lynk:
“Israel’s acquisitive and repressive practices over the course of its 55-year-old regime had curdled from an endless occupation into something darker, harsher and more ominous… the political system of entrenched rule in the occupied Palestinian territory satisfies the prevailing evidentiary standard for the existence of apartheid.”
Reading the “debate” on the report is like entering fantasy land, as countries like Syria – a country run by a dictator who massacres his own people - stepped up one by one to denounce Israel – the only stable, democratic state in the region – for its ongoing flagrant violations of international law.
Last week, during its 49th Session, the Council adopted four “anti-Israel” resolutions (as usual, Israel was the only country to be on the receiving end of so many resolutions):
- calling for an arms embargo against Israel
- demanding Israel’s withdrawal from the Golan Heights
- condemning Israeli settlement activity and calling for a boycott of settlement products and an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines
- asserting the rights of the Palestinian people to self-determination and statehood within the “pre-1967 lines”.
Of course, Israel, like any other country, is subject to international law, and should expect to be criticized.
But these one-sided resolutions go beyond all reason, proportion and reality. The history of Israel, its rich, multi-ethnic, pluralistic society, the hostile context within which Israel exists, Islamic-inspired terrorism - all of the complex realities that make up modern-day Israel are ignored. The Palestinians are assumed to be innocent victims; Palestinian refusal to acknowledge the right of the Jewish State to exist is not mentioned. The Jewish State of Israel is presented as nothing more than an aggressive, covetous nation.
The UN Human Rights Council has become an open platform for those who despise Israel and the Jewish people to vent their antisemitic prejudices.
It is outrageous that Western countries like France, Germany and the Netherlands continue to allow this institutional bias to exist, and even vote in favor of such offensive resolutions.
It is time for the West to stand up against tyranny and injustice, and demand that Israel be treated fairly.
The words of the prophet Jeremiah speak loudly to us today: “Hear the word of the Lord, you nations; proclaim it in distant coastlands:‘He who scattered Israel will gather them.”
The calling of the nations is to understand and support God’s plans and purposes for this world. Instead of constantly criticizing and condemning the Jewish State of Israel, they should be taking a more constructive approach to understanding the challenges Israel faces, and helping her in her task of being a nation based on principles of righteousness, justice and mercy.
In order to do so, they must recognize that the Lord is bringing the Jewish people home, and planting them in the land, as He has promised – as a blessing to the nations, and a sign that the Lord alone is sovereign over the earth.
Let us continue to pray that the eyes of our political leaders will be opened to what the Lord is doing in our generation.
The Editorial Team - Israel & Christians Today
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