Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind. (Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)

We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.
(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948)

With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last. (Friends of Israel Initiative)

Thursday 2 December 2010

A Little Light Amid the Darkness: UN's Biased Goldstone Report Enforcer Resigns After UN Watch Campaign

From that magnificent Geneva-based monitoring organisation UN Watch http://www.unwatch.org/ comes news of a triumph for truth and justice, bringing some brightness and cheer! Here's UN Watch's summary of this development:

Victory: Thanks to UN Watch, German law professor Christian Tomuschat, the anti-Israel and anti-American official heading the UN committee to enforce the Goldstone Report, has resigned. The biased UN probe is now headless, and is in disarray.


This unprecedented resignation follows a global campaign by UN Watch that exposed Professor Tomuschat's egregious bias and breach of his obligation under international law to be objective and impartial:

• UN Watch's team of researchers tracked down and translated Professor Tomuschat's German academic writings. We published a 30-page report revealing for the first time how he had frequently compared Israeli actions with the "barbarism" and "inferno" of World War II. This was reported worldwide, including in the Washington Times.

• When Tomuschat delivered his report to the UN Human Rights Council in September -- calling for the investigation of former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni for alleged "war crimes" in Gaza – UN Watch was the only group to take the floor and directly challenge Tomuschat for his bias. We demanded he come clean about his legal work for Yasser Arafat and biased statements about Israeli "state terrorism." Our challenge in the plenary stirred angry reactions from an embarassed Tomuschat as well as the council president himself.

• When Tomuschat then appeared at a UN press conference, journalists followed up on UN Watch's campaign and challenged Tomuschat to defend himself.

Finally, thousands of UN Watch supporters worldwide have been taking action on our website every day to demand from the UN that Tomuschat resign. In the end, he gave in. Claiming suddenly that he did not have "enough time," Tomuschat resigned.

It's one more UN Watch victory for the genuine principles of human rights, international law, and Middle East peace and security.

1 comment:

  1. And another piece of welcome news, reported in the London Jewish Chronicle today:

    The government has at long last announced a change to Britain’s universal jurisdiction legislation.

    A year after Israeli opposition leader Tzipi Livni cancelled a London speech for fear of arrest the Home Office published details of alterations to the law on magistrates issuing arrest warrants for foreign politicians.

    The new Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill includes “a requirement for the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions to be given before an arrest warrant can be issued in a private prosecution for offences of universal jurisdiction.”

    Although the reform will not stop war crimes being prosecuted in this country even if committed abroad by someone who is not a British national, it means that such prosecutions will no longer be at the whim of individual magistrates.

    After Ms Livni was forced to pull out of her British trip, and several other Israeli politicians either cancelled appearances or expressed concern about visiting, the then Labour government pledged to change the law but did not do so before their election defeat.

    Since gaining power in May the coalition government has also repeatedly promised to amend the law.

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