The Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations in Geneva is deeply troubled by the statement issued this morning by certain special mandate holders about the violent riots which took place along the border between Israel and Gaza last Friday (30 March).
Disturbingly, the statement repeats Hamas’ claims, echoed by the Arab League, that the riots were supposedly peaceful civilian demonstrations. The statement ignores the reality on the ground, including the fact that for the past ten years the Gaza Strip has been under the control of a terror organization- Hamas, which acts in complete disregard of IHL and human rights law.
The statement ignores the ample evidence of Hamas’ clear intentions to instigate a violent provocation along the border, and eventually to break the fence in blatant violation of Israel’s sovereignty.
Extensive proof that the riots were exploited by terrorists to stage attacks were provided by the IDF and are readily available on the internet. However, this information which is vital to understanding how the events last Friday unfolded, was largely disregarded by the drafters of this statement.
Nowhere in the statement is it mentioned that at least four explosive devices were placed along the fence under the cover of the riots, or that many incidents of stone throwing and lobbing of Molotov cocktails took place. The drafters of the text show striking familiarity with certain tweets of the IDF that serve their narrative, yet selectively ignore the bulk of the information that talks about Palestinian terror and violence.
It is especially concerning that while calling for an investigation of the events, the Rapporteurs seem to have already made up their mind about what happened, thus prejudging the outcome of any such investigation.
The fact that the statement is riddled with historical and factual inaccuracies reflects a distressing lack of impartiality, and an inability, or indeed unwillingness, to take into account Israel’s legitimate security concerns in the face of the constant threats by the Hamas terror organization in Gaza against its civilians and sovereignty.
If the experts signed to the statement were sincere in their intention to bring down tensions and avoid more casualties, we would expect them to issue an urgent warning to Hamas to refrain from again using Gazan civilians as human shields for their terror activities against Israel.
However, the statement before us does not even mention Hamas or its responsibility towards its own population, and instead focuses solely on Israel, the party which acts in respect of IHL. This is but another example of the inherent bias that characterizes the work of Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk, whose very association with this statement makes it void of any credibility.
ENDS.
For more information, please contact publicdiplomacy@geneva.mfa.gov.il