Conference of Presidents Criticizes UN Human Rights Council for Latest Anti-Israel Resolutions

UN Body Call for Reparations to Palestinians Ignores Attacks that led to Gaza War

New York, March 26, 2010… Leaders of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations sharply criticized the United Nations Human Rights Council for passing three anti-Israel resolutions on Wednesday and an additional one on Thursday calling on Israel to provide reparations to the Palestinians for loss and damages suffered during the Gaza War.

“By continuing to focus on Israel exclusively, the Human Rights Council proves that, as a body, it is a propaganda platform, not a body addressing real human rights offenses worldwide. In calling for reparations to the Palestinians affected during the 2009 Gaza War, the Council completely ignored the eight years of unyielding missile and mortar attacks on civilian targets in southern Israel that led to the response to protect this civilian population. The Council continues to ignore the rocket attacks launched against southern Israel from Gaza to this day. We appreciate the moral decision of the countries that voted against this resolution (the Netherlands, Hungary, Slovakia, Italy and the Ukraine) and particularly thank the United States for voting against all four resolutions. We laud U.S. Ambassador Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe’s protest against the Council’s exclusive focus on Israel and agree that such targeting of a single country undermines the Council’s credibility as a body that is meant to address racism and bigotry in the world,” said Chairman Alan Solow and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein.

“The four anti-Israel resolutions repeat oft-stated charges and canards. The automatic majority for such actions demonstrates that the supposedly reformed Council is simply a reincarnation of the biased, ineffective body it replaced. Once again the UN agenda has been hijacked by extremist forces and is prevented from addressing critical issues like the massacres in Nigeria, the ongoing crimes in Sudan and the multiple state violators of human rights,” the leaders said.