Might As Well Say Hezbollah Is Running The UN

UN rights council sets up probe of Israeli attacks in Lebanon
GENEVA (AFP) –
Aug.11,2006
The UN Human Rights Council voted to set up a commission of inquiry into “systematic” Israeli attacks on civilians in Lebanon, despite fears that it could upset diplomatic moves to end the conflict.
Twenty-seven countries in the 47-member Council backed a resolution submitted by Islamic Nations, including China, Russia and South Africa, setting aside concerns that the resolution was one-sided because it failed to tackle attacks by Hezbollah in northern Israel.
Eleven countries, mainly European Union nations and Japan, voted against. Eight more abstained, while one was absent.
The draft resolution proposed by member states in the Organisation of Islamic Conference “strongly condemns grave Israeli violations of human rights and breaches of international humanitarian law in Lebanon.”
It called on Israel to “immediately stop military operations against civilian population.”
The Council decided to urgently dispatch “a high level commission of inquiry” composed of experts on human rights and humanitarian law to “investigate the systematic targeting and killings of civilians by Israel in Lebanon.”
The United States, which is only an observer on the Council, believed that the session was “potentially counter-productive to the Security Council’s efforts” to deal with the conflict, ambassador Warren Tichenor said.
The vote also ignored a warning by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, who said that an inquiry must also cover rocket attacks by Hezbollah on northern Israel and the alleged use of human shields by the group.

“The independence, impartiality and objectivity of such an inquiry must be guaranteed not only by the credibility of the panel members, but also the scope and methodology of their mandate,” she said.

However, Arbour said a balanced probe was necessary and insisted before the vote that the crisis “demands a firm and meaningful response from this Council.

“There is a clear and urgent need to bring clarity to a situation in which facts and allegations are now given the same credit but without the benefit of systematic, independent, thorough and credible scrutiny,” she told the special session.

Negotiations between the OIC states and Western nations to try to modify the text failed despite an added call for all parties to refrain from violence against civilians.
Israel, which is not a member of the Council, rejected the resolution was one-sided.

“It is painful and regrettable that the Council made a distinction between the sufferings, the blood and the deaths, and this failure will forever be written in the annals of that body,” said Israeli ambassador Itzhak Levanon.

Arbour had earlier told the Council that “Israeli attacks affecting civilians continue unabated,” while Hezbollah’s “indiscriminate” shelling of northern Israel was “unrelenting.”
Indiscriminate attacks and human shields are prohibited, she warned while advance warnings of bombardments did not relieve the warring sides of their legal obligation to spare civilians.
The UN rights chief underlined that those in “positions of command and control,” could be held personally responsible for those breaches and face war crimes charges.

“I reminded all belligerents that war crimes and crimes against humanity may be committed even by those who believe, accurately or not, that their combat is a just one and their cause a worthy pursuit,” she added.

In Lebanon, more than 1,000 civilians — nearly one-third of them children under 12 — have been killed and nearly a million have fled their homes.
About 120 people have died in Hezbollah rocket attacks in northern Israel.
Human rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Commission of Jurists said an inquiry should be set up by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan or the Security Council.

Wild Thing’s comment….
The hate for Jews is strong, and seeking favor with the Hezbollah is growing among the left on all levels. This is outrageous and should anger everyone that realizes we are at war with Isalm.