Israel will launch a blackout campaign against the Human Rights Council's commission of inquiry

The International Committee was set up following Operation Wall Guard, and its powers are unusually broad compared to other UN commissions of inquiry. A Foreign Ministry telegram received by Walla!

Lightning Ravid

27/01/2022

Thursday, 27 January 2022, 07:15 Updated: 07:16

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In the video: Navy fighters summarize "The Guardian of the Walls" and prepare for the next operation (stills: Reuven Castro, video: Shai Makhlouf and Dotz, editor: Amit Simcha)

Israel plans to launch soon a blackout campaign against the International Commission of Inquiry set up by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva following Operation Wall Guard, according to a classified telegram from the Foreign Ministry.

Israeli officials are very concerned Any reference to Israel as an "apartheid state." Such a determination from

a

body sheltered under the umbrella of the UN could have a very negative impact on Israel's status and image among liberal audiences in the United States and other Western countries.

Walls. "The committee was formed by a narrow majority when 24 states - mostly Arab, Muslim or undemocratic - supported its establishment. 23 states voted against the establishment of the committee or abstained. This group included all the democracies and Western countries that are members of the Human Rights Council.

The mandate and powers of the commission are unusually broad compared to any other commission of inquiry set up by one of the UN bodies. And to the UN General Assembly every September.

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To the full article

Tanks on the Gaza border during Operation Wall Guard (Photo: Reuven Castro)

The commission of inquiry was set up following Operation Wall Break, but its mandate is much broader and includes investigating human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in general, as well as examining the "founding causes" that lead to Israeli-Palestinian clashes. Unusually, the committee is supposed to investigate human rights violations within Israel's borders - something that has never happened to date.

Former UN Commissioner for Human Rights Nabi Pillai has been appointed chairman of the commission. Along with her, two experts on human rights and international law were appointed to the committee. A telegram sent to Israeli missions around the world states that "Israel does not cooperate with the committee due to the unilateral mandate and the positions of its declared anti-Israel members."

In a telegram, a copy of which reached Walla !, the head of the division for international organizations, Amir Weissbrod, wrote that dealing with the commission of inquiry would be a priority for the Foreign Ministry regarding the UN during 2022. "The main goal is to delegitimize the committee, its members and products. "To prevent or delay further decisions," Weissbrod wrote in a telegram.

Weissbrod stressed that the campaign on the issue is expected to intensify ahead of the convening of the Human Rights Council in March. Those who placed them in a conflict of interest.

Appointed chair of the committee. Pillai (Photo: AP, Elisa Day)

In other cases, members of UN commissions of inquiry repeated some of their conclusions. The most famous case is Judge Richard Goldstone, who chaired the committee that investigated Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in 2008. Goldstone expressed remorse for the report he authored and sharply criticized Israel.

A spokesman for the Human Rights Council's inquiry committee declined to comment on the Israeli allegations, saying the committee members had not spoken publicly about the committee or its mandate

. "Human rights of the UN or any other UN agency," a spokesman for the commission said, noting that the investigation would focus on human rights violations by all parties involved in the conflict.

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• Human Rights Council

• UN

• The guardian of the walls

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs