Report: Netanyahu considering Israel’s withdrawal from UN Human Rights Council

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly contemplating severing ties with the UN Human Rights Council following the release last week of its Gaza report, in which it accused Israel of committing war crimes.

By: Atara Beck, World Israel News

In light of the troubling United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) report on last summer’s war with Gaza, according to which the world body accuses Israel of war crimes and equates the Jewish state with the Hamas terror organization, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is reportedly considering breaking ties with the Council.

IDF Radio reports that during a closed-door session on Monday, Netanyahu referred to the UNHRC commission of inquiry as a “hypocritical committee.”

Member of Knesset Avidgor Liberman, who served as foreign minister during Operation Protective Edge and throughout the summer war with Gaza, had canceled the country’s membership in the UNHRC in 2012.  According to the IDF Radio report, he criticized Netanyahu during the meeting for changing that decision a little over a year later.

Netanyahu, who renewed the ties in 2013, allegedly replied that he will reconsider the issue and decide whether or not to remain in the Council.

Upon release of the UNHRC report last week, the Israeli leader stated in the Knesset: “Israel does not commit war crimes. Israel is defending itself from a murderous terrorist organization that calls for its destruction.”

The opposition joined the prime minister in condemning the report, citing anti-Israel bias and an apparent lack of concern regarding human rights abuses by Hamas not only against Israeli civilians, but also against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

It is “regrettable that the report fails to recognize the profound difference between Israel’s moral behavior during Operation Protective Edge and the terror organizations it confronted,” the Foreign Affairs ministry stated.