ISLAMABAD – Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi Friday said that saidIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in a state of fear.
The foreign minister’s statement came after the UN Human Rights Council(UNHRC) decided Thursday to initiate an open-ended internationalinvestigation into violations surrounding the latest Gaza violence, andinto “systematic” abuses in the Palestinian territories.
Qureshi said that the OIC has achieved success in the meeting of the HumanRights Council yesterday, adding that if Israel has announced that it willnot cooperate in the investigation, they are being exposed.
“From Netanyahu’s statement, it seems that they are in a state of fear.”
The resolution, which passed with 24 of the council´s 47 members in favour,will spur an unprecedented level of scrutiny on abuses and their “rootcauses” in the decades-long Middle East conflict.
The text, which was presented by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization ofIslamic Cooperation, was debated during a special one-day council sessionfocused on the surge in deadly violence this month.
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Opening the session on Thursday, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet voicedparticular concern about the “high level of civilian fatalities andinjuries” from the attacks on Gaza, and warned the Israeli attacks on theenclave “may constitute war crimes”.
The Palestinian foreign ministry saluted the move and said it “reflects thedetermination of the international community to move forward in the path ofaccountability, law enforcement, and protection of Palestinian humanrights.”
But Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu slammed it as “shameful.”
“Today’s shameful decision is yet another example of the UN Human RightsCouncil’s blatant anti-Israel obsession,” Netanyahu said in a statement.
