Thursday, January 24, 2008
JPost: Balloon for each Kassam on UN doorstep
As the United Nations Security Council debated a response to the situation in the Gaza Strip and Sderot, Israel's New York Consulate held a protest in front of UN headquarters on Thursday, in which they placed 4,200 red balloons on the UN's doorstep. The number of balloons signified the 4,200 Kassam rockets fired into Israel from Gaza since the 2005 disengagement from the Strip.
The display was meant to raise world awareness to the fact that Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip are part of an effort to end the rocket attacks, the consulate said in a statement...
It had no effect on the UN Human Right Council: UNHRC slams Israel's actions in Gaza
The UN's top human rights body on Thursday passed a resolution condemning Israeli military action in Gaza and the West Bank.
The resolution, which also demands the lifting of the blockade on Gaza and calls for international action to protect Palestinian civilians, was proposed by Arab and Muslim countries and passed by 30 votes in favor, with 15 abstentions, during an emergency session of the 47-member UN Human Rights Council.
European countries abstained from the vote on the grounds that the resolution did not address the firing of rockets by Palestinian terrorists into Israel territory.
On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council grappled for a response to the situation in the Gaza Strip and Israel's UN mission was busy lobbying UNSC member countries to amend the draft presidential statement to include condemnation of Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, which the original neglects to mention.
Council experts met behind closed doors Wednesday morning to amend a Libyan draft statement that calls on Israel to end its siege of Gaza and ensure "unhindered access for humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people," but makes no mention of the rocket attacks that triggered the blockade...
UNHRC Votes by Country.
I wondered how countries voted. I could not find a page with vote by country but I found a video of the vote and I transcribed the vote.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_Tdvau3yCs
UNHRC – Votes by Country
The roll-call vote at the 6th Special Session of the Human Rights Council on the situation in Gaza
Yes
1. Nigeria
2. Pakistan
3. Peru
4. Philippines
5. Qatar
6. Russian Federation
7. Saudi Arabia
8. Senegal
9. South Africa
10. Sri Lanka
11. Uruguay
12. Zambia
13. Angola
14. Azerbaijan
15. Bangladesh
16. Bolivia
17. Brazil
18. China
19. Cuba
20. Djibouti
21. Egypt
22. India
23. Indonesia
24. Jordan
25. Madagascar
26. Malaysia
27. Mali
28. Mauritius ???
29. Mexico
30. Nicaragua
No
1. Canada
Abstention
1. Republic of Korea
2. Romania
3. Slovenia
4. Switzerland
5. Ukraine
6. UK * North Ireland
7. Bosnia and Herzegovina
8. Cameroon
9. France
10. Germany
11. Ghana
12. Guatemala
13. Italy
14. Japan
15. Netherlands
Absent
1. Gabon
Remember who your friends are.
Remember who your enemies are.
Nice work!
God Bless Gabon (and more seriously, Canada).
The Netherlands' abstention comes two days after its FM promised an Israel audience that it would vote against such resolutions in the future:
"It is not acceptable to focus on Israel time after time, while other countries like Sudan do not receive any reference whatsoever at the United Nations Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly in New York," Verhagen said in an interview. "I would like to set the record straight on Israel."
Interviewed in his suite at Jerusalem's King David Hotel, the Dutch foreign minister said he has pursued "a more internationally balanced approach" to Israel and has conditioned Dutch support for resolutions criticizing Israel upon condemnations for Hamas' actions."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/946860.html
Oops. I'm wrong. He did not actually promise to vote against such condemnations. Only not to support them.
With such friends... who needs enemies?
I am surprized by the YES votes by India, Philippines and Peru.
Why are you surprised? India has an interest in keeping its friendly-business relatiohship with Israel very much discreet. It does not have an interest in demonstrating too much sympathy for the Jewish state. It is not something that Israel can do much about. It comes down to numbers: 1.5 billion Muslims, 15 million Jews in the world.
The same rationale goes for every European country that votes for or abstains from voting against.
Looks like not too many people believe in
Hochhuth principle, that in moments of historical crisis, moral choice must take precedence over realpolitik.
I am completely unsurprised by anything the UNHRC does. It is a an anti-Semitic body, plain and simple.
A question: Switzerland survived for 50+ years without being in the U.N., and it did so just fine. So, why can't Israel just pull out of this farce of an organization? Other than the U.S. and now Canada, no other country in the organization can stand it, anyway........
BHG
LOL, I just realized that I misspelled my own name in the post above......
BHG
Noga, I disagree with you regarding India's vote.
India and China, are clearly on the ascent.
India has the choice to continue to align itself with despotic regimes, or join with the imperfect West.
Certainly India could have Abstained, as 15 other countries did. India breaking its alignment with the "non-aligned" countries would have been a bold statement and elevated India and possibly emboldened others to leave the gang.
I expected more from India, which has also suffered at the hand of "peaceful Islam". Remember that India and Pakistan almost had a nuclear War, over land, Kashmir, that Islam has built mosques on the ruins of Hindu temples, and the Hindu/Muslim religious riots that have killed many.