Clash at UN: Experts Refute Gaza Inquiry Findings
GENEVA, March 18, 2019 — In testimony this morning at the United Nations, a panel of military and legal experts rejected a report presented by the UN Human Rights Council which accuses Israeli soldiers of alleged “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” on the Gaza border, and calls for their arrest. CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO. Speaking before diplomats and activists attending a side event in the UNHRC organized by the non-governmental organization UN Watch, Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey S. Corn (ret.), a law professor who formerly advised the U.S. Army on the laws of war, and Col. Richard Kemp, the former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, cited structural, legal and operational defects with the UN’s inquiry, and said the report promoted false claims. By wrongly framing the Gaza border violence as “predominantly civilian protests,” said Corn, “the Commission of Inquiry distorts the reality of what it confronted.” “By omitting from the UNHRC inquiry reports of the use of human shields by Hamas, the report incentivizes these terror tactics in the future, and the risk posed to the civilian population of Gaza is exacerbated. If we are really concerned about mitigating harm done to civilians, we should be condemning Hamas’ actions and this report,” he said. The UN report called on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights “to manage the dossiers on alleged perpetrators,” referring to Israeli soldiers, “to be provided to the International Criminal Court.” In the UNHRC plenary this morning, council members Pakistan, Cuba, Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and others welcomed the report, as did observer states such as Syria, Venezuela …
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