by Yoni Hersch, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
PM Benjamin Netanyahu outraged after U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon accuses Israel of using excessive force against Palestinian children • U.N. report on children and armed conflict has 32 paragraphs on Israel, only eight on Iraq, 15 on Afghanistan, 18 on Syria.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
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Photo credit: Reuters  |
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded
sharply on Friday to remarks by United Nations Secretary General Ban
Ki-moon, who suggested that Israel may have violated international law
and used excessive force on Palestinian children during Operation
Protective Edge last summer.
Writing on his Facebook page early Friday,
Netanyahu said: "This is a dark day for the U.N. Instead of highlighting
the fact that Hamas made hostages of Gaza's children when it fired at
Israel from preschools, the U.N. has again chosen to reproach Israel,
which held itself to the highest moral standards in combat, as was
determined just this past week by a group of senior American and
European generals.
"At the same time, Hamas -- a terror
organization -- is awarded immunity by the U.N., even though it has been
proven beyond any doubt that it committed war crimes by firing from
hospitals, mosques and from within U.N. facilities. It turns out there
is no limit to hypocrisy."
On Thursday, during a U.N. Security Council
meeting on a report expressing concern for the welfare of children in
war zones, Ban criticized Israel for the death and suffering of
Palestinian children during last summer's conflict in Gaza.
Alarmed at the suffering of "so many children"
as a result of "Israeli military operations in Gaza last year," the
U.N. chief urged Israel to take concrete and immediate steps, including
"reviewing existing policies and practices" to protect and prevent the
killing and maiming of children and to respect the special protections
afforded to schools and hospitals.
"The unprecedented and unacceptable scale of
the impact on children in 2014 raises grave concerns about Israel's
compliance with international humanitarian law ... [and] excessive use
of force," he said.
Ban did not address the reasoning behind his
decision last week not to include Israel on his annual list of parties
that kill or injure children in armed conflict. That decision sparked
protests from human rights groups and many in the Arab world and
elsewhere.
Although formally presented in Ban's name, the
report accusing Israel of wrongdoing was prepared by his envoy on
children and armed conflict, Leila Zerrougui of Algeria.
In a letter to Ban circulated soon after his
speech, Israel's U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor accused Zerrougui of
"widespread, systematic and institutionalized biased conduct against
Israel [which] undermines the credibility of the report."
Prosor said Zerrougi and others drafting the
report failed to hold Hamas responsible for launching thousands of
rockets into Israel while using Palestinian civilians, including
children, as human shields. He also criticized Zerrougi and others of
preventing Israel from verifying incidents in the report, for giving
Israel very little time to comment before the report was finalized, and
for ignoring or dismissing most of its remarks and requests.
Prosor called on the secretary-general "to
change these working methods to ensure a transparent and credible
process in the future."
Ban defended his report, saying the content "should speak for itself."
He said a debate was appropriate "but national interests should not cloud the objective at stake, which is protecting children."
Prosor said Zerrougui's office "repeatedly refused attempts on our part to provide official evidence and facts."
Zerrougui rejected Israel's accusations.
"Israel has been in this report since 2005;
every year it's the same process that we apply," Zerrougui told
reporters. "Last year I was here. I was not accused of misconduct. The
year before I was here; I was not accused of misconduct."
Zerrougui said Israel had been given the standard two weeks and three days to respond.
According to U.N. officials, Zerrougui
included Israel on a draft blacklist of violators of children's rights,
although Ban decided not to include Israel's army on the final
blacklist, which names groups such as the Taliban and Boko Haram.
Prosor said the report disproportionately
focused on Israel, even though Iraq, where Islamic State militants
control significant territory, had the highest number of child
casualties.
The report includes 32 paragraphs on Israel, compared with eight on Iraq, 15 on Afghanistan, 18 on Syria and 11 on Darfur.
Zerrougui's report did not explicitly accuse
Hamas of any crimes against children. Several Israeli officials said on
condition of anonymity that Israel had told Zerrougui's office how Hamas
rockets severely damaged Israeli medical centers and schools -- details
that were not mentioned.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely also
responded to the sharp criticism of Israel, saying, "The biased and
one-sided approach of the U.N. regarding the IDF's actions during
Operation Protective Edge is outrageous.
"At a time when there is ongoing war in the Middle East
and children are being slaughtered on a daily basis, the U.N. decides to
mention Israel in the same breath as countries where basic human rights
have long since ceased to exist. Hamas uses children for its purposes
as it does with civilian institutions, and it intentionally targets
human lives."
Yoni Hersch, News Agencies and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=26317
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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