March 22, 2013

Oral Revisions for “Follow-up to the report of the UN independent international FFM to investigate the implications of the Israeli settlements on civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of the Palestinian people …”

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Today, by a vote of 45 for and 1 against (United States) (1 absent) the UN Human Rights Council supported the vile report produced on Israeli settlements and additional "follow-up" machinery which guarantees its longevity. The sickness of the UN runs even deeper, however, than meets the eye. Last year, the Council adopted a resolution calling for yet another anti-Israel mission to "fact-find" about the facts it had already found. This time it was on settlements. When the resolution calling for the report was adopted in 2012these countries abstained: Cameroon, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Guatemala, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Spain. Elections for the Council were held in November 2012, and Cameroon and Hungary are no longer members. The Israel-bashing report was duly produced. Today, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Guatemala, Italy, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania and Spain changed their votes from an abstention to a vote in favor. In other words, time and again, in the face of the relentless repetition of anti-Israel resolutions through UN bodies, any meager stamina exhibited by the European Union and other democratic states collapses. This is one of the primary facts of modern international relations. Non-democracies are shameless, tireless adversaries, while time and again, democracies do not have what it takes to withstand the pressure. The Czech Republic's pathetic explanation as to why it changed its position was this: we opposed the creation of the fact-finding mission but taking into account that the language of the current resolution is "less harmful" - not as bad as it could have been - we will now vote in favor.