"After the resignation of the commission chairman, who was biased against Israel, the report that was written at the behest of the UN Human Rights Council -- an anti-Israeli body that has nothing to do with human rights -- should be shelved," Netanyahu said in a statement released by his office.
He reiterated Israel's position that the fighting was aimed to stop Hamas rocket fire at Israel's southern communities.
"Israel defended itself against the Hamas war criminals who used residents of Gaza as human shields to fire at Israeli citizens," Netanyahu said.
He maintained that the Israeli military was acting "in accordance with international law."
Schabas, a Canadian professor of international law, was appointed last August by the UN body to head a probe into alleged war crimes during Israel's military campaign in Gaza during July and August.
In his letter of resignation to the commission overnight Monday, Schabas cited Israel's allegations of bias due to consultancy work he had once carried out for the Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) as the reason for his resignation.
The 50-day-long offensive in Gaza killed more than 2,200 Palestinians, at least 70 percent of them civilians, according to the UN.
The war caused casualties also to the Israeli side, claiming the lives of 73 people, all but six were soldiers.
Last week, B'Tselem, an Israeli rights group, released a 49-page-long report accusing the Israeli government of employing a deliberate policy of launching air strikes on residential buildings during the war in Gaza, and violating the rules of war in some cases.
Source:Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
3/2/15
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Israel called Feb. 3 for the shelving of a UN inquiry into its war last summer in the Gaza Strip after the probe's head quit over Israeli accusations of conflict of interest...
ReplyDeleteCanadian international law expert William Schabas resigned Monday after Israel complained that he had prepared a legal opinion for the Palestine Liberation Organisation in October 2012, the United Nations said.
Schabas strongly denied that he was beholden to the PLO but said he was reluctantly stepping down to avoid the inquiry into the July-August conflict -- commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council -- being compromised in any away.............http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/israel-wants-un-gaza-war-probe-shelved-as-chief-quits-.aspx?pageID=238&nID=77837&NewsCatID=359