(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
The decision today by the United Nations Human Rights Council is a travesty and should be rejected by decent people everywhere.
Rather than investigate Hamas, which is committing a double war crime by firing rockets at Israeli civilians while hiding behind Palestinian civilians, the UNHRC calls for an investigation of Israel, which has gone to unprecedented lengths to keep Palestinian civilians out of harm's way, including by dropping leaflets, making phone calls and sending text messages.
The UNHRC should be launching an investigation into Hamas's decision to turn hospitals into military command centers, use schools as weapons depots and place missile batteries next to playgrounds, private homes and mosques.
By failing to condemn Hamas's systematic use of human shields and by blaming Israel for the deaths that are caused by this grotesque human shields policy, the UNHRC is sending a message to Hamas and terror organizations everywhere that using civilians as human shields is an effective strategy.
Like the investigation that led to the infamous Goldstone report, a report which was ultimately renounced by its own author, this investigation by a kangaroo court is a foregone conclusion.
The predictable result will be the libeling of Israel and even greater use of human shields in the future by Hamas. Those who will pay the price will be not only Israelis but also Palestinians who Hamas will redouble its efforts to use as human shields in the future.
* * *
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman stated that the Human Rights Council has long become the Terrorist Rights Council. Israel will continue to fight terrorism and will continue to fight the hypocrisy and antisemitism of bodies like the UNHRC. When states like Cuba, Venezuela and their like, which do not even understand the term "human rights," vote against Israel, that is a sign that we are doing the right things.