Canadian appointed to chair UNHRC panel investigating Gaza war crimes accused of anti-Israel bias

On Monday, the United Nations Human Rights Council announced the people who would investigate “purported” human rights violations in the Gaza Strip during the recent fighting. The UNHRC decided to set up the body on July 23, approximately two weeks after the current fighting began.

The chair of the Commission of Inquiry is Canadian William Schabas. That the UN body would appoint someone who has demonstrated a bias if not a hatred for the only democracy in the Middle East is hardly news. What is interesting is the law professor’s response to accusations he is vehemently anti-Israel. Schabas did not disavow or deny previous statements he has made about Israel but argued he can still be impartial. His rationale strains credulity and provides comic relief in a situation that his hardly humorous. Schabas, 63, is a professor of international law and a recognized expert in human rights and genocide. And as we all know, Israel is the only country that practises genocide while what the Islamic State is doing to Christians and Yazidis and the firing of rockets by Hamas are mainly unfortunate if not justified incidents. Schabas had worked for the UN before and served as a panel member on the Sierra Leone Truth and Reconciliation Committee. He is well qualified for the job. Questions were immediately raised about Schabas’ impartiality. A few years ago he had stated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli president Shimon Peres should be in the dock at the International Criminal Court to be tried for war crimes. Schabas has even acknowledged the UN has a double standard when it comes to Israel but they deserve to be held to a higher standard because they are backed by the United States.

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What is interesting is the 63-year-old does not deny making the statements attributed to him. Although he will not describe Hamas as a terrorist organization because that would be “prejudging” what he is tasked to decide, he sees no problem with being objective about Israel whose current prime minister is the same one he says should have previously been tried for war crimes. In a bizarre defence of his ability to remain neutral in investigating a country for possible war crimes after stating their current leader should have been tried years ago, Schabas told the Globe and Mail:

“The suggestion that I’m anti-Israel is absurd. Like everyone else inside or outside of Israel, I disagree with people. Is everyone who has an opinion about Netanyahu anti-Israel?”

It’s hard to believe anyone with a minimal amount of intelligence could make such a statement, let alone a professor of international law. Of course everyone has an opinion; the problem is that he’s expressed an opinion in no uncertain terms and now he is supposed to be fair and impartial to the country whose leaders he already believes have committed war crimes. First year law students know better. In an offshoot of “some of my best friends are Jewish,” in his defence of his impartiality, the professor pointed out he’s on the board of the Israel Law Review. What is also troubling is the criticism launched against Schabas. After his appointment as chair was made public, John Baird, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, tweeted, “UN Human Rights Council continues to be a sham for advancing human rights; today’s [announcement] for members of its Gaza inquiry reveals its agenda.” Baird later stated, “It’s an utter shame, and will do nothing to promote the peace and dignity in Gaza for the Palestinian people.” Hillel Neuer, head of UN Watch, expressed the point that seems to have escaped the learned law professor. The appearance of bias is just as bad as actual bias. Neuer also said you cannot spend years calling for the prosecution of someone and then act as his judge. The eminent professor apparently cannot see this. The problem with these criticisms is that they give the UNHCR more legitimacy than they deserve. The statements imply that if the UN body only picked someone else to chair the commission, somehow Israel would get a fair shake in their handling of the thousands of rockets fired from Gaza. This also means that the UN in general and the UNHCR actually want a fair and impartial investigation of the situation and just made a little boo-boo in appointing who they appointed. The reality, of course is that the fix was in. It’s better to have Schabas who at least is honest about the double standard that is imposed upon Israel than someone who appears to be fair and objective before finding Israel guilty. The UNHCR has no intention to coming to a conclusion other than the Jew country is guilty of war crimes. Schabas really is the right man for the job.