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Philippine ambassador reprimanded for supporting UN anti-Israel resolution

“Israel expects friendly countries such as the Philippines not to support proposals that strengthen terrorism and to stand by us at this time,” said Gilad Cohen of the Foreign Ministry.

By Aryeh Savir, TPS

The Philippine Ambassador to Israel, Alberto Macairog, was summoned by the Foreign Ministry on Sunday and reprimanded over the Philippines’ vote in the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in favor of establishing a Commission of Inquiry and investigating Israel for alleged war crimes during the IDF’s Operation Guardian of the Walls against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The UNHRC passed a resolution on Thursday to launch a Commission of Inquiry against Israel for alleged war crimes it committed and called for an arms embargo against the Jewish state.

Twenty-four states, including Bahrain, with which Israel recently signed a peace treaty, supported the motion; nine voted against it, and 14 countries abstained. No European country supported the motion.

In the dress-down, Gilad Cohen, Deputy Director-General for Asia and the Pacific at Ministry of Foreign Affairs, clarified to Macairog that his country’s vote is “not acceptable to Israel and constitutes a reward for terrorism.”

The UNHRC is “a biased and anti-Israeli body and the decision made is extremely one-sided, does not mention the Hamas terrorist organization at all and ignores 4,300 missiles fired at Israeli citizen,” he noted.

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“It is inconceivable that a country like the Philippines, which suffers from extreme and murderous Islamic terrorism in the south of their country, would support a draft resolution that ignores the war crimes of the Hamas terrorist organization,” he said.

“Israel expects friendly countries such as the Philippines not to support proposals that strengthen terrorism and to stand by us at this time,” he concluded.

Ambassador Meirav Eilon Shahar, Israel’s Permanent Representative to UN organizations in Geneva, accused the UNHRC after the vote of “creating a parallel universe where Hamas and Israel are given a moral equivalence, a parallel universe that has no grip in reality, where politics prevails over human rights. This session and this resolution are no different.”