THE UN'S LEGAL POGROM: CRIMINALIZING ISRAEL'S EXERCISE OF THE RIGHT OF SELF-DEFENSE | In the summer of 2014, Israelis were under fire from Palestinian terrorists in Gaza who are openly committed to genocide against the Jewish people and the destruction of the Jewish state. More than 70% of Israelis were within target range of Hamas' Gaza rockets. Once fired, half a million people had less than 60 seconds to find shelter. Underground tunnels were discovered that opened into Israeli territory, with terrorists emerging on their way to cause mass casualties among Israeli civilians.
In response, the United Nations launched a full scale assault on Israel.
A special session of the UN Human Rights Council -- notorious for its discriminatory treatment of Israel -- created an "inquiry." The Council, whose "human rights" authorities include countries like Russia, China and Saudi Arabia, cast its actions as international law, and ordered a report on Israel's legal abominations arising from the war. That report will soon be published, and presented to the Council on June 29, 2015.
Now is the time to remember that the Holocaust was preceded by the subversion of law, the corruption of the judiciary, and the perfidy of lawyers. The Nuremberg laws -- rules for Jews only -- were interpreted, applied and enforced by masses of seemingly upstanding lawyers and judges.
Today, the United Nations is concocting another set of Nuremberg-like laws -- rules for Israel only -- which smug international lawyers and judges will elucidate and administer. Flying under the banner of "accountability," the travesty has the appearance of propriety. But make no mistake. The distance between so-called law and morality at the UN today is as great as it was 80 years ago in Nazi Germany.
The Human Rights Council report will be the product of three legal "experts" who each have a history of anti-Israel bias. One of the three, and the inquiry's first chair, William Schabas, was forced to resign after being outed as a former Palestinian legal advisor -- but not before he chaired the vast majority of the fact-finding upon which the report depends. The second and current chair, Mary McGowan Davis, was the former enforcer of the Goldstone report -- the legal sham that was ultimately recanted even by its namesake. McGowan Davis moved from finding Israel guilty of failing to abide by international legal standards in relation to the 2008/9 Gaza war to being an "impartial" arbiter of Israel's actions concerning the next Gaza war. Member Doudou Diène was the UN Human Rights Commission and Council's racism expert and in that capacity opined that anti-Zionism was not antisemitism, the notoriously anti-Israel Durban Declaration must be the "cornerstone of efforts to combat racism," and the "Israeli-Palestinian divide" was a "cycle of violence triggered by the dynamics of occupation."
The McGowan Davis/Schabas report presents a challenge to all decent lawyers and judges and law-abiding citizens -- because the lessons of Nuremberg are very clear. There is no halfway point, no middle ground on the path towards becoming the antisemites' willing executioners. When the law becomes an instrument of Jew hatred, people of good will are called upon to discredit it, to reject its findings, to refuse to honor it, to deny its application, and to shield its Jewish victims from the legal artifice.
At Human Rights Voices, therefore, we have created an online tool for educating the public, the media, advocates, and legislators, about every aspect of the UN's handling of the Gaza war and the forthcoming McGowan Davis/Schabas report. This is the opportunity to arm yourself with the facts, and with an understanding of the law, and prepare for battle -- against the legal pogrom that is now unfolding against the Jewish state.
The Human Rights Voices database on the UN's Legal Pogrom and McGowan Davis/Schabas report will be updated regularly. Stay tuned. | Second Chair Mary McGowan Davis | First Chair (resigned) William Schabas | Member Doudou Diène | | | Hamas Genocidal Ambitions Burning Star of David, Gaza (August 17, 2014) Hamas takeover of Gaza The Hamas movement, Gaza City (December 14, 2014) Hamas use of Palestinians as human shields Civilians gather on roof of home of targeted Hamas terrorist, Gaza (July 8, 2014) Hamas execution of fellow Palestinians Hamas publicly executes Palestinians, Gaza (August 22, 2014) | The UN and Hamas preceding the 2014 Gaza war Israeli discovers Hamas terror tunnels built over years with UN-demanded concrete The UN response to the Hamas kidnapping of three Israeli teens June 12, 2014 UN Spokesperson Farhan Haq, NYC (July 17, 2014) UNRWA and the 2014 Gaza War Palestinian combatants use UNRWA school for cover (August 2, 2014) The UN as an accomplice to the use of Palestinians as human shields Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva (July 23, 2014) | Anne Bayefsky is director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust. Follow her @AnneBayefsky. For more human rights and United Nations coverage see www.HumanRightsVoices.org. Were you forwarded this e-mail by a friend or colleague? Subscribe here. | |