Israel slams UN OCHA report as biased
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs findings 'blatantly disregard Hamas' actions in Gaza Strip, attacks on Israel,' says head of Israeli mission to the UN. 'No other nation would put up with such discriminatory treatment,' he adds
WASHINGTON – Israel's fight against the UN's OCHA (Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) report concerning the situation in Gaza reached the UN Security Council Friday, as Jerusalem's delegates slammed the findings as biased and blatantly dismissive of Hamas' actions in the Strip.
The OCHA report went into great detail of the cost the Palestiniansc was paying as a result of Israel's action, citing restriction of movement and the existence of West Bank settlements as examples.
Shalev was angered, among other things, by the report's use of the term "alleged" when it described Hamas' use of civilians as human shields; as well as its use of civilian homes, schools and hospitals for the purpose of mounting assaults.
Dan Carmon, head of the Israeli mission to the UN, spoke before the Council Friday: "We are shocked and concerned about the report's blatant disregard of Hamas terror organization's actions against Israeli citizens, and the fact that is does not so much as mention the heavy rocket salvos that have plagued Israel for eight years," he said.
Carmon demanded clarifications "about these omissions," adding that if OCHA failed to do so, Israel would conclude that "the UN does not consider continuous, daily rocket fire on civilians a matter of defending civilian in an armed conflict.
"No other nation around this table would put up with such discriminatory and biased treatment for its fight against terror, as Israel does in this report," he added.
Carmon concluded his address by saying that the report was "faulty by nature" and that it was regrettable that a report which should have focused on the protection of civilians missed its primary goal "and pretends to draw judicial conclusions regarding international humanitarian law, leaving us to wonder what mandate, opinion and procedures they were based upon."
In the course of the meeting, it became evident that Israel was not the only country to be enraged by OCHA's findings, as two other countries mentioned in is have also filed official complaints with the UN Security Council, saying that an agency tasked with humanitarian issues cannot act as an examining magistrate and take such obvious political stands.
