Country condemns 'hypocrisy' of UN rights council on Gaza

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May 18, 2018 5:26 PM

Israel condemned the "hypocrisy and absurdity" of the UN Human Rights Council after it voted Friday to send war crimes investigators to probe the shootings of Gaza protesters by Israeli forces.

"Israel totally rejects the resolution of the UN Human Rights Council, that once again has proven itself to be a body made up of a built-in anti-Israeli majority, guided by hypocrisy and absurdity," the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.

In Geneva, 29 of the council's 47 members voted for a resolution calling on the body to "urgently dispatch an independent, international commission of inquiry" -- its highest-level of investigation.

Only two members, the United States and Australia, voted against the resolution, while 29 voted in favour and 14 abstained, including Britain, Switzerland and Germany.

The resolution came after Israeli forces killed 60 Palestinians during protests on the Gaza border on Monday as the US relocated its embassy from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem.

In its statement, the Israeli foreign ministry said the results of the inquiry were a "foregone conclusion inherent in the wording of the resolution".

"It is clear to all that the purpose of the commission is not to arrive at the truth, but rather to impair Israel's right to self-defence, and to demonise the Jewish state," it added.

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