Zeid is not the voice of the people of true democracies such as Israel and the United States. He is nothing more than an unaccountable UN bureaucrat whose hypocritical unsolicited opinions on “international law” are of no consequence
UN Human Rights Commissioner Lashes Out Against Israel Again
By Joseph A. Klein, CFP United Nations Columnist ——Bio and Archives--May 1, 2018
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein accused Israel of using “excessive force” in dealing with Hamas-led demonstrations near and along the border fence in Gaza. “Every week, we witness instances of use of lethal force against unarmed demonstrators,” Zeid said last Friday. He claimed, without any first-hand knowledge of actual conditions on the ground, that many of the Palestinians killed while taking part in demonstrations as part of the so-called “Great March of Return” were “unarmed or not presenting an imminent threat.”
“I am extremely concerned that by the end of today -- and next Friday, and the Friday after that -- more unarmed Palestinians who were alive this morning will have been killed, simply because, while exercising their right to protest, they approached a fence, or otherwise attracted the attention of the soldiers on the other side,” Zeid added. He gave a new definition to what he characterized as the Palestinians’ right to “peaceful assembly and expression.” Stone-throwing, or “even Molotov-cocktails thrown from a significant distance at heavily protected security forces in defensive positions” posed no threat, according to this "human rights" hypocrite. How did he know where Molotov cocktails were being thrown from, as he sat comfortably in his office in Geneva, Switzerland? Zeid made no mention of Palestinian terrorists’ use of improvised explosive devices.
Zeid claimed to be especially concerned about the plight of the Palestinian children killed or injured during the demonstrations. Once again, he displayed his obsessive anti-Israel bias. “Images of a child being shot as he runs away from Israeli security forces are downright shocking,” Zeid said. Zeid neglected to mention how Hamas and other Palestinian terrorists have deliberately put Palestinian children in harm’s way, using them as human shields.
A rare, more balanced UN perspective was offered by a man who is familiar with what has been taking place in Gaza for the last several weeks. Nickolay Mladenov, the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, briefed the UN Security Council last week. He reported “an increasing number of dangerous incidents at the fence, including the planting of improvised explosive devices – at least one of which detonated – the throwing of Molotov cocktails and attempts to breach the fence.”
While calling on Israel to “calibrate its use of force and minimize the use of live fire," Mr. Mladenov also placed responsibility on Hamas and the leaders of the demonstrations to “keep protestors away from the Gaza fence and to prevent all violent actions and provocations.” He noted in his Security Council briefing that five rockets and mortars were fired towards Israel in the last month and that a fifth Hamas tunnel leading from Gaza into Israel had been sealed by Israeli forces in just the past six months. “As I have said repeatedly, all militant activity in Gaza, including the digging of tunnels and the firing of rockets, must cease” Mr. Mladenov said, while blaming Hamas for investing “in militant activities at the expense of the population.”
Mr. Mladenov, like Zeid, lamented the deaths of children attributed to Israeli live fire. However, unlike Zeid, Mr. Mladenov warned that “civilians, particularly children, must not be intentionally put in danger.” At least someone at the United Nations is finally willing to blame the Palestinian terrorists for contributing to the plight of children and other civilians in Gaza. Sadly, however, Mr. Mladenov is in a very small minority. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’s Israel-bashing is far more typical of the rhetoric heard in the halls of the United Nations.
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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley used her own remarks at the Security Council meeting on the Middle East last week to condemn Hamas and other terrorists who hide behind innocent civilians to commit their violent acts in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East. “Hamas has exploited and endangered the very Palestinian people it claims to represent,” Ambassador Haley said. “Anyone who truly cares about children in Gaza should insist that Hamas immediately stop using children as cannon fodder in its conflict with Israel.”
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein could not care less about who represents the main threat to the lives and well-being of the children in Gaza. Israel is the sole villain, he believes, and the Palestinians are the innocent victims, terrorists and all.
President Trump is also a villain, according to Zeid. Aside from his regular Israel-bashing, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, who hails from the decidedly non-democratic country of Jordan, decided to stick his nose into the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. He pronounced that Donald Trump’s election would be “dangerous from an international point of view.”
On September 5, 2016, after pronouncing himself “the global voice on human rights, universal rights; elected by all governments,” Zeid claimed that Trump “shares with Da’esh” [another name for ISIS] the “scalpels of the arch propagandist.” After the election, Zeid declared that President Trump’s policies on limiting the flow of refugees and migrants into the United States are “in breach of international law, if undertaken without due process guarantees, including individual assessment.” He even threatened to take the United States to court over President Trump’s immigration and refugee policies, which are aimed at nothing more than protecting American citizens from harm.
Thankfully, Zeid has decided not to seek a second four-year term. “To do so, in the current geopolitical context,” he said, “might involve bending a knee in supplication; muting a statement of advocacy; lessening the independence and integrity of my voice — which is your voice.”
Zeid is not the voice of the people of true democracies such as Israel and the United States. He is nothing more than an unaccountable UN bureaucrat whose hypocritical unsolicited opinions on “international law” are of no consequence when it comes to the national sovereignty and security decisions of the duly elected governments of such democracies. Our collective voices should rise up to tell Zeid not to let the door hit him on the way out.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein accused Israel of using “excessive force” in dealing with Hamas-led demonstrations near and along the border fence in Gaza. “Every week, we witness instances of use of lethal force against unarmed demonstrators,” Zeid said last Friday. He claimed, without any first-hand knowledge of actual conditions on the ground, that many of the Palestinians killed while taking part in demonstrations as part of the so-called “Great March of Return” were “unarmed or not presenting an imminent threat.”
