U.N. Names Gaza War Crimes Panel

[alsame]

The United Nations has tapped three experts to investigate possible war crimes and human rights violations committed by both Israelis and Palestinians during the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip, the organization announced Monday.

A Canadian international law professor, William Schabas, will lead the panel, Reuters reports. Other members include British-Lebanese human rights attorney Amal Alamuddin and Doudou Diene, a Senegalese lawyer who has previously worked with the UN on numerous cases. Alamuddin is the highest profile figure of the three, thanks largely to her engagement to the actor George Clooney.

The team will look at “all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law … in the context of the military operations conducted since 13 June 2014″ and present a report in March 2015, according to the UN

The UN Secretary General has accused Israel of violating international law in attacking UN safe sites, though Israel has said the UN is biased against the country. The UN has also claimed Hamas forces in Gaza violated international laws as well by indiscriminately launching rockets at Israel.

http://time.com/3101220/united-nations-israel-gaza-war-crimes-panel/

[merrily]

1. No comment.

[malaise]

2. Excellent

I want to see the US defend war criminal Bibi

Now expect to see Ban-Ki-Moon hounded out of office with some made up scandal.

[Jefferson23]

3. Wikileaks: Ban Ki-Moon Worked with Israel to Undermine UN Report

Published 9 August 2014


The General Secretary of United Nations (UN) Ban Ki-Moon collaborated in secret with Israel and the United States to weaken the effects of a Board of Inquiry's report accusing Israel of human rights violations in Gaza in Dec. 2008 – Jan. 2009.

Wikileaks released documents on Friday that revealed that Ban wrote a letter to the UN Security Council asking its members not to take recommendations by the UN Board of Inquiry about Israeli bombings in Gaza into account.

The report demonstrated that the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) had a direct role in seven of the nine attacks against buildings of the UN in Gaza strip, and accused Israel of having breached the inviolability and immunity of UN premises.



http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Wikileaks-Ban-Ki-Moon-Worked-with-Israel-to-Undermine-UN-Report-20140809-0020.html

[Boom Sound 416]

4. ...

Not

[Jefferson23]

5. NGO: William Schabas must recuse himself from UN Gaza inquiry

GENEVA, — A Geneva-based human rights group called on William Schabas to recuse himself from the UN’s new Gaza inquiry, saying that he is legally disqualified by prior statements expressing his wish to see Prime Minister Netanyahu and former President Shimon Peres indicted before the International Criminal Court.

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/65216

[RobertEarl]

6. That guy is smart

Just what we need to see thru the fog and get to the Truth.

No denial from him, but seems the unnamed group is in deep.

[Jefferson23]

7. Yep and we'll see more like this that questions the integrity of the inquiry. n/t

[alsame]

8. And of course the US has already

chimed in.

President Obama’s representative to the UNHRC, Ambassador Keith Harper, described the inquiry as “yet another one-sided mechanism targeting Israel.”

[Jefferson23]

9. Yes, that is where we stand and one of many reasons we're not trusted by the citizens of the ME. n/t

[hack89]

10. And the Kabuki dance continues. nt

[Jefferson23]

11. UN Watchdog Questions Appointment of Clooney Fiancee, Anti-Israel Lawyer on Gaza Inquiry Panel

A United Nations watchdog NGO slammed the international body’s decision to allow a law professor avowedly hostile to Israel as well as actor George Clooney’s fiancee to head a human-rights inquiry into Israel’s Operation Protective Edge against Palestinian rocket and tunnel attacks from Gaza.

William Schabas, a Canadian international law professor at London’s Middlesex University will head the Human Rights Council’s three-member panel, appointed on Monday.

“Under international law, William Schabas is obliged to recuse himself because his repeated calls to indict Israeli leaders obviously gives rise to actual bias or the appearance thereof,” UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer said in a statement released in the wake of the UN’s move.

“You can’t spend several years calling for the prosecution of someone, and then suddenly act as his judge,” said Neuer. “It’s absurd — and a violation of the minimal rules of due process applicable to UN fact-finding missions.”

Neuer noted previous statements by Schabas, which, in his words, demonstrated “bias or appearance thereof:”

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/11/un-watchdog-questions-appointment-of-clooney-fiancee-anti-israel-lawyer-on-gaza-inquiry-panel/

[alsame]

12. "actor George Clooney’s fiancee". Wow. Amal Alamuddin

is accomplished and experienced and is qualified to serve on this panel. Just wow.

[Jefferson23]

13. Wait, the accusations of bias have only begun. n/t