Thank you. Mr. President.

Israel welcomes the new High Commissioner for Human Rights to his first session of the Human Rights Council and hopes that his tenure will serve to promote universal human rights and to reform the workings of both the Council and the OHCHR. Israel hopes his tenure will see the end of the institutional bias regarding Israel.

I refer to it specifically because of the 7th Special Session regarding Israel and the 56th resolution adopted against my country. Mr. High Commissioner, that's one third of all special sessions and over fifty percent of all country resolutions adopted by the Council.

What this latest Special Session has achieved is to reward the terrorist aggressor - HAMAS - and to support extremism, while sustaining its sponsors.

What this Council will not achieve is to deny and limit Israel's ability and determination to defend its people.

What the latest Special Session failed to achieve is to point an accusing finger and name Hamas as the perpetrator of war crimes and gross violator of the human rights of the population under its control.

In short, the Session was a travesty and I venture to say that in facing the challenges of the real world, this Council has showed itself to be inadequate, and consequently demonstrably failed.

As for the COI decided on, its chairman has already found Israel guilty, as articulated in countless interviews and will now waste 2.5 million dollars to legitimize his conclusions.

Mr. President,

One cannot allow the institutionalized bias against Israel to override the international community's position against terrorism. One cannot allow one country to protect itself against terror and condemn another for doing just that. It is called double standards and it should end. All acts of terror should be unequivocally condemned - in Iraq, Nigeria or Gaza - and the human rights of all peoples, including Israelis, protected.

Thank you, Mr. President.