Israel says it won't co-operate with UN human rights probe

Israel on Thursday formally announced it would not co-operate with a special commission formed by the United Nations' top human rights body to investigate alleged abuses against Palestinians, saying the probe and its chairwoman were unfairly biased against Israel.

The decision, delivered in a scathing letter to the commission's head, Navi Pillay, further strained what is already a tense relationship between Israel and the UN-backed Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"It is obvious to my country, as it should be to any fair-minded observer, that there is simply no reason to believe that Israel will receive reasonable, equitable and non-discriminatory treatment from the Council, or from this Commission of Inquiry," said the letter, signed by Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel's ambassador to the UN and international organizations in Geneva.

Her letter took personal aim at Pillay, who preceded Michelle Bachelet as UN human rights chief.

Pillay, a judge from South Africa, has previously compared the former system of apartheid in her country with the situation confronting Palestinians in Israel, and has also supported the movement to boycott and divest (BDS) from Israel.

Both are significant strikes against Pillay, in Israel's view.

Commission has ongoing mandate

The UN Human Rights Council, based in Geneva, established the three-person investigative commission last May, days after an 11-day war between Israel and Palestinian militants, including Hamas militants, in the Gaza Strip.

The health ministry in Gaza said more than 260 Palestinians, including scores of women and children, were killed in the fighting. Fourteen people died in Israel.

At the time, Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that Israeli actions, including airstrikes in civilian areas, might have constituted war crimes. But the commission's responsibilities go well beyond the Gaza war.

A commission of inquiry is the most potent tool of scrutiny of rights violations and abuse at the council's disposal. The assigned mandate of this one is to monitor alleged rights violations in Israel, Gaza and the occupied West Bank. It is the first such commission to have an "ongoing" mandate.

Israel has long accused the United Nations, and particularly the Human Rights Council, of bias. It is the only country in the world whose rights record comes up for discussion at every council session.

Israel has also raised concerns about the council's makeup, saying it includes countries with poor rights records or open hostility toward Israel. China, Cuba, Eritrea, Pakistan, Venezuela and a number of Arab countries sit on the 47-member council.

The council president, Ambassador Federico Villegas of Argentina, defended the selection of the commission members, saying the president "places the utmost importance on examining the independence and impartiality of each member in order to ensure the objectivity of the body" and considers their skills and experience in appointing its members.

'Double standards and demonization,' says Israel

Since the commission was established, a number of international rights groups, including Human Rights Watch (HRW), have said Israeli attacks appear to have constituted war crimes. Both UN and HRW have also said that indiscriminate Hamas rocket fire at Israeli cities violated the international laws of war.

Amnesty International accused Israel on Tuesday of subjecting Palestinians to a system of apartheid founded on policies of "segregation, dispossession and exclusion" that it said amounted to crimes against humanity.

The London-based rights group said its findings were based on research and legal analysis in a 211-page report into Israeli seizure of Palestinian land and property, unlawful killings, forcible transfer of people and denial of citizenship.

Israel said the report — the second by an international rights group in less than a year to accuse it of pursuing a policy of apartheid — "consolidates and recycles lies" from hate groups and was designed to "pour fuel onto the fire of antisemitism."

It accused Amnesty UK of using "double standards and demonization in order to delegitimize Israel."

Canada rejects Amnesty report

Canada has also rejected Amnesty International's claim that Israel is an apartheid state.

James Wanki, spokesperson for Global Affairs Canada, dismissed the report's claim in a brief statement on Feb. 10.

"Canada is a steadfast ally of Israel and a friend of the Palestinian people," he wrote. "Canada rejects the view that Israel's actions constitute apartheid."

Palestinians praised the report.

"The United Nations Security Council and the General Assembly are obliged to heed the compelling evidence presented by Amnesty and other leading human rights organizations and hold Israel accountable for its crimes against the Palestinian people, including through sanctions," the Palestinian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Israel has repeatedly rejected international calls for investigations into its wartime conduct and treatment of the Palestinians.

The International Criminal Court in the Hague has opened an investigation into possible Israeli war crimes — a probe that Israel says is motivated by antisemitism and part of an international campaign to "delegitimize" it.