GENEVA, Oct. 18 – A Geneva-based watchdog group called on UN chief Ban Ki-moon to clarify remarks made today that seemed to draw a moral equivalence between the imprisonment of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and Hamas terrorists.

“I am very encouraged by the prisoner exchange today after many many years of negotiation,” Secretary-General Ban told Reuters today. “The United Nations has been calling for (an end to) the unacceptable detention of Gilad Shalit and also the release of all Palestinians whose human rights have been abused all the time.”

“Mr. Ban needs to clarify whether, as it appears, he was referring to the Palestinians who committed such gruesome crimes as the bombing of Jerusalem’s Sbarro pizzeria that killed 15, the bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub that killed 21, and the bombing of Netanya’s Park Hotel that killed 29 people attending a Passover Seder,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

“We call on Mr. Ban to recognize that those who masterminded and carried out terrorist attacks against women and children are despicable criminals, not innocent victims, and that their detention is a moral and security obligation rather than a so-called violation of human rights,” said Neuer.

“The UN was founded on moral clarity, and its highest officials should know better than to engage in false moral equivalence. They should instead be condeming all of those today who obscenely celebrated cold-blooded murderers as heroes.”

The post Watchdog Calls on UN Chief to Clarify Remarks Comparing Israel’s Shalit to Hamas Terrorists appeared first on UN Watch.

_________________________

Today: Ban Ki-Moon Compared Israel’s Shalit to Hamas Terrorists

GENEVA, Oct. 18 – A Geneva-based watchdog group called on UN chief Ban Ki-moon to clarify remarks made today that seemed to draw a moral equivalence between the imprisonment of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and Hamas terrorists.

“I am very encouraged by the prisoner exchange today after many many years of negotiation,” Secretary-General Ban told Reuters today. “The United Nations has been calling for (an end to) the unacceptable detention of Gilad Shalit and also the release of all Palestinians whose human rights have been abused all the time.”

“Mr. Ban needs to clarify whether, as it appears, he was referring to the Palestinians who committed such gruseome crimes as the bombing of Jerusalem’s Sbarro pizzeria that killed 15, the bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub that killed 21, and the bombing of Netanya’s Park Hotel that killed 29 people attending a Passover Seder,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

“We call on Mr. Ban to recognize that those who masterminded and carried out terrorist attacks against women and children are despicable criminals, not innocent victims, and that their detention is a moral and security obligation rather than a so-called violation of human rights,” said Neuer.

“The UN was founded on moral clarity, and its highest officials should know better than to engage in false moral equivalence. They should instead be condeming all of those today who obscenely celebrated cold-blooded murderers as heroes.”

The office of UN rights chief Navi Pillay also voiced concern about the rights of Palestinian terrorists, saying that some were being released to the wrong places. She made no mention of the serious security concerns involved.

_________________________

Canada Brings Moral Clarity to UN: “We won’t just go along to get along”

Canadian cabinet ministers recently delivered two powerful speeches at the UN, raising the maple leaf as a banner of moral clarity within the world body. Here is the General Assembly address by Foreign Minister John Baird. And here is Immigration Minister Jason Kenney’s speech in protest of the UN’s “Durban III” summit on racism.

Tyrants at the UN are outraged at Canada’s principled positions. The government of Syria’s President Assad, while being reviewed two weeks ago by the UN Human Rights Council (see below), lashed out at Canada, calling it “an extreme right-wing government” that is “against developing countries.” This from a regime that has murdered 3,000 of its own people this year alone, and whose Baathist party ideology was cloned from Europe’s World War II Fascist movements.

 _________________________

Hall of Shame: Those Who Praised Syria on Human Rights

Syrian opposition activist and cyber-dissident Rami Nakhle addressed the UN Watch-led summit of dissidents while the United Nations gave its podium to his oppressor. Sept. 21, 2011, New York.

GENEVA —  The U.N. Human Rights Council today concluded its quadrennial review of Syria’s human rights record after an exercise that saw criticism from the US and other democracies, while Iran, North Korea, Russia, Venezuela, Cuba, Zimbabwe, Burma and other countries praised the Assad regime. Hall of Shame: click here for quotes by countries who praised murderous Damascus regime.

UN Watch put pressure on Syria by circulating a draft UN resolution to condemn the regime, as reported below by Bloomberg News and the Kuwait News Agency.

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Syria Opposition Slams ‘Hostility’ of Russia, China in UN Vote

Oct. 7, 2011
Bloomberg
By Emre Peker

A Syrian opposition leader accused Russia and China of putting their economic interests first and showing “hostility” toward the Syrian people by blocking a United Nations resolution demanding an end to violence.

The stance of Russia and China, which on Oct. 4 scuppered a U.S. and Europe-backed motion condemning President Bashar al- Assad’s crackdown on protests, will be reciprocated across the Arab world, Faruk Tayfur, deputy chairman of the Syrian National Council formed in Istanbul this month, told Turkey’s state-run Anatolia news agency. Russia sells weapons to Syria and maintains a naval base there.

Syrian opposition leaders will travel to Egypt this weekend, and there are plans to visit other countries to gain recognition as Syria’s representatives, said Tayfur, who fled the country in 1975 and said he hasn’t returned since.

Activists estimate that at least 3,600 people have died and tens of thousands have been detained during seven months of protests in Syria. Opposition leaders have been meeting in Turkey and on Oct. 2 said they created a council, including the Muslim Brotherhood, to coordinate efforts to end Assad’s rule.

The United Nations Human Rights Council is meeting in Geneva today for a quadrennial discussion of Syria’s record. A coalition of activists and rights groups sent a draft resolution to all UN member states calling for the creation of a special UN monitor of human rights in the country, said Geneva-based UN Watch, a non-government organization coordinating the effort.

The Syrian government’s submission to the UN council on the country’s human rights record is “fictional” and “insulting to the memory” of Syrians killed in Assad’s crackdown, Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, said in an e-mailed statement.

The Syrian government has blamed the violence on terrorists encouraged by its foreign enemies.
Tayfur praised Turkey’s decision to press ahead with more sanctions against Assad’s government even after the failure of the UN measure. A former Syrian colonel, Riad al As’ad, fled to Turkey after forming the opposition Free Syria Army, according to Anatolia.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the veto of the Security Council resolution “unfortunate.” The premier canceled a trip to Turkey’s southeastern province of Hatay, where more than 7,600 Syrian refugees are staying, after his mother died today, Anatolia reported.

____________

Dissidents, rights groups reject Syrian report to HRC, circulate UNGA draft resolution condemning Damascus

10/7/2011

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 7 (KUNA) — Less than a week after Russia and China blocked the adoption of a draft resolution condemning Syria in the Security Council for killing its own people, dissidents and human rights groups circulated a draft resolution to the UN General Assembly’s 193 Member States seeking adoption of a similar text, the Geneva-based rights group ‘UN Watch’ said in a statement circulated here.
As the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva began Friday its quadrennial review of Syria’s human rights record, a coalition of 20 famous dissidents and rights groups [led by UN Watch] rejected Syria’s report as “fictional,” and circulated a draft resolution to all 193 Assembly members to “strongly condemn” Syria’s mass killing of its own citizens.

It also urges the creation of a permanent UN investigator (Special Rapporteur) on the human rights situation in Syria.

The issue will first be referred to the Assembly’s Social Committee, known as the “Third Committee” where all human rights abuses throughout the world, from Iran to Cuba, are debated. The Committee usually adopts resolutions, sponsored by the western countries, condemning the various regimes for those abuses. The resolutions move to the Assembly a few weeks later for adoption.

UN Watch said the sponsors of the anti-Syria draft resolution include well-known former political prisoners Yang Jianli of China, Ahmad Batebi of Iran, Fidel Suarez Cruz and Berta Antunez of Cuba, Rebiya Kadeer of the Uyghur people (Muslim Chinese) and Grace Kwinjeh of Zimbabwe, as well as UN rights groups, including UN Watch, the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Human Rights Foundation.

According to the draft, the Assembly “strongly condemns” the “ongoing, grave and systematic human rights violations” by the Syrian authorities, including “arbitrary executions, excessive use of force, the killing and persecution of peaceful protesters and human rights defenders, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment of detainees, including children.” In its report to the Human Rights Council, Syria said it is “committed to promoting and protecting human rights,” that it “exercised the utmost self-restraint” and “refrained from shooting on groups in order to avoid killing innocent civilians,” and described the recent peaceful protests as “criminal attacks against the nation and the people by armed terrorist groups” supported by “certain western states that are bent on discrediting and weakening” Syria and getting it to “change its political position on the challenges facing the region,” in a direct reference to Israel.

Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, which heads the coalition, said “the regime is wrong, and its days are counted. We urge the UN to take action to hasten an end to the mass murder of Syria’s citizens,” adding that the report is “insulting to the memory of more than 2,000 innocent Syrian citizens who sacrificed their lives for the basic values of human dignity and freedom from oppression”. 

The post Issue 316: UN Chief Compares Gilad Shalit to Hamas Terrorists appeared first on UN Watch.

Mr. Neuer, who met last week with Shalit’s father at his protest tent in Jerusalem, urged the Red Cross to speak out against the assault on international humanitarian law by Hamas and Hezbollah, highlighting their war crimes such as acts of terrorism, incitement to genocide, and embedding of rockets in civilian areas to maximize casualties.

The Geneva-based human rights group also urged the Red Cross to take action on the Wikileaks revelation that Iranian Red Crescent ambulances were used in Lebanon to smuggle weapons.

The petition was signed by 175 delegates from 26 nations who gathered recently at the 4th B’nai B’rith Europe Young Jewish Adult Forum in Zurich, in which Neuer was the keynote speaker.

More UN Watch Action for Rights in China

Separately, UN Watch today issued another statement by 38 NGOs urging the U.N. not to snub today’s Oslo Nobel ceremony for Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo. The statement also protested a massive U.N. photo exhibit that was displayed today, which UN Watch described as an outrageous propaganda vehicle designed to mask China’s abysmal record on human rights. German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur dedicated a full story to UN Watch’s appeal for action on China.

The post Issue 267: UN Watch Meets Red Cross to Petition for Release of Shalit, Hold Hamas Accountable for Violating International Law appeared first on UN Watch.

The Geneva-based human rights group urged the Red Cross to speak out against the assault on international humanitarian law by Hamas and Hezbollah, noting their acts of terrorism, incitement to genocide, and embedding of rockets in civilian areas in order to maximize casualties.

UN Watch also urged the Red Cross to take action on the Wikileaks revelation that Iranian Red Crescent ambulances were used in Lebanon to smuggle weapons.

The petition was signed by 175 delegates from 26 nations who gathered at the 4th B’nai B’rith Europe Young Jewish Adult Forum in Zurich in mid-November.

Click for high resolution photo

The post NGO Meets Red Cross to Petition for Release of Shalit, Hold Hamas Accountable for Violating International Law appeared first on UN Watch.

GENEVA, December 10, 2010 — As demonstrators worldwide today called for the release of captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer visited with the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters in Geneva to present a petition urging that Hamas abide by the minimal obligations of international humanitarian law.

The Geneva-based human rights group urged the Red Cross to speak out against the assault on international humanitarian law by Hamas and Hezbollah, noting their acts of terrorism, incitement to genocide, and embedding of rockets in civilian areas in order to maximize casualties.

UN Watch also urged the Red Cross to take action on the Wikileaks revelation that Iranian Red Crescent ambulances were used in Lebanon to smuggle weapons.

The petition was signed by 175 delegates from 26 nations who gathered at the 4th B’nai B’rith Europe Young Jewish Adult Forum in Zurich in mid-November.

Click for high resolution photo

The post NGO Meets Red Cross to Petition for Release of Shalit, Hold Hamas Accountable for Violating International Law appeared first on UN Watch.

Geneva, July 6, 2009 — Noam Shalit, father of Israel captive Gilad Shalit, delivered the following testimony today before the UN fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict.

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Oral Testimony of Noam Shalit, Father of Kidnapped Israeli Soldier Gilad Shalit
To UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, 6 July 2009

My name is Noam Schalit and I am the father of the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit.

Honorable members of the Mission – I thank you for giving me the opportunity to address you today. I thank you, also, for allowing me to make my testimony public. I know that this Mission is determined to give the victims of the recent conflict in Gaza an opportunity to make their voice heard. So – with your kind permission – I would like to use this distinguished forum – the United Nations – first to address you and then to address the people of Gaza and, in particular, the people holding my son Gilad.

Honorable Members of the Mission, a few weeks ago you were in Gaza. You met the Hamas hierarchy. According to the Ma’an news agency – Mr. Ismail Haniyya welcomed your mission deploring what he viewed as Israel’s grave violations of international law. The same news agency reported that the Mission thanked Mr. Haniyya for his cooperation in facilitating its work. Sirs and Madam, if this cooperation is indeed genuine then the same HAMAS hierarchy should honor your eventual findings – whatever they may be. And I have no doubt that after you read my written submissions, you will determine that my son’s violent abduction and his continuing detention subject to extortion is, equally, a violation of international law. After you hear the cassette recording of my son’s voice – released on the first anniversary of his capture – you will be shocked by the callous cynicism of his captors and the grief that his words have caused me and my family. These are words that he was forced to read. You will also find, without a doubt, that the refusal to allow him access to the Red Cross, if not a war crime is, at least, a gross act of inhumanity and an aggravating circumstance.

Members of the Mission – The same Geneva Convention of 1949 which this Mission will use to judge the legality of the Israeli attack on Gaza forbids the holding to ransom of an individual – whether he be soldier or otherwise. The same Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court by which the Palestinian Authority seeks to charge the Israeli hierarchy condemns the HAMAS leadership no less for the crime of taking hostages – soldiers or otherwise. The same court in The Hague where the Palestinian Authority pursues Mr. Olmert may equally investigate Mr. Masha’al who – with his Jordanian nationality – falls squarely within the jurisdiction of this institution.

But what is the purpose of this honorable Mission? Is it really to lay the basis for a future criminal prosecution? Or is it, perhaps, to effect reconciliation? Know that the minds and hearts of the Israeli people are with my son on a daily basis. His release – which it is within your power to promote – will bring about such reconciliation.

And now, with you permission, I would like to address the Palestinian victims of Operation Cast Lead.

People of Gaza, I do not come before this Mission as a representative of the Israeli State. I come neither to condemn nor to justify the recent Israeli operations in Gaza. I am not a politician nor do I care for politics. I am a civilian and the father of three.

I last saw my son Gilad on Wednesday 21 June 2006 when he returned to the military service which his country obliged him to perform by law. A few days later, his patrol was sabotaged by armed Palestinians, two of his fellow soldiers were killed before his very eyes and he was abducted. He was nineteen years old at the time. A shy boy with a nervous smile and a studious disposition. Like many his age, all that occupied him were his studies and sport. To all those who know him, he is gentle and sensitive to the suffering of others – a trait he has shown from an early age. At the age of 11, his teacher asked him to write a fable. His drawings and narrative have now been published. I am giving the Mission a copy of this book. You can read it if you wish. The story of a shark and a fish who became friends against all the odds. Need I say more? Suffice to say that the will for peace and security can overcome fear and distrust.

People of Gaza – Do not overlook the circumstances of my son’s service nor of his capture. He was not attacking your territory.  He was not even in your territory. He was operating within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel – protecting the integrity of what was supposed to be a border of peace after a complete Israeli withdrawal.

Your leaders say Gilad is a prisoner of war. I say he is an abductee. The difference is in the interpretation of the law. But even if your leaders hold my son as a prisoner of war – why will they not allow him the privileges which attach to such a status ? Gilad has no contact with the outside world. Your leaders refuse him access to the International Committee of the Red Cross – the same Red Cross which regularly visits your people held captive in Israeli prisons. The same Red Cross which protests the violations of their rights to the Israeli Government.

People of Gaza, your leaders are fighting to return your sons and daughters from captivity. This is an understandable desire. You may agree with such a policy. Many of you, however, will realize that the fate of an entire prison population cannot depend on the ransom of one young man.

Your leaders have committed a crime with respect to my son. They hold him to ransom and, by the same token, they hold all of you to ransom. For three years now, you have been held hostage to the inflexible demands of your leaders and their unwillingness to compromise. They issue demands which, I fear, the Israeli Government will never meet. My son’s fate is the means through which your leaders distract your attention from the destruction they have brought upon you. Is this humane? Are these the acts of an honorable regime?

People of Gaza – Do not ignore the root cause of our mutual suffering. You know that the injustice done to my son was the trigger for war. You also know that the release of my son is the key to peace and the lifting of the Israeli commercial blockade. A small gesture and a little effort on both sides can relieve the misery of many.

President Sarkozy of France recently told Prime Minister Netanyahu that your leaders would not release Gilad until Israel freed prisoners. I am not a party to talks on prisoner release. I am not consulted on numbers and I have no say in the conduct of negotiations. Like many of you, all that concerns me is that the one I love returns home. Do those of you who are waiting for the return of those close to you care for the politics? Do you care for the posturing of your leaders? Or do you – like me – wish that this war and what caused it would never have happened?

But if a prisoner exchange need be the course we are forced to adopt, let reason and moderation overcome excessive demands. Let not a stalemate in the negotiations prevail over the will of the people. Let not stubborness triumph over compassion.

People of Gaza – like many of you, we are suffering the consequences of the decisions and failures of others. Like many of you, my family and I have been caught up in a web of violence. Like many of you, I pay a heavy price on a daily basis. I know that you are short of food. Some of your loved ones have been killed – women and children, young and innocent. I understand your distress and sympathize with your grief. I have visited your wounded from Beit Hanoun and, have witnessed, at first hand, the unnecessary suffering and the unspeakable atrocity of war. But even so, I do not compare suffering. As a parent speaking to a multitude of parents – I ask you to understand my family’s anguish. As the days go by, we begin to despair. We despair of the day when we will see our son again. I know neither where he is held nor how he fares. Whether he is injured or whether he is even alive.

And finally to the people holding my son: I urge you to release my son. You have the power to act with grace. Do it for the respectability that you wish the international community to accord you. Do it because you see yourselves as statesmen acting with humane intent. Do it for the sake of the respect you say you  show this Mission. Do it not for gain but do it, I beg you, because it is the just and right thing to do. But most important of all, do it for the peace and welfare of your own people.

The post Father of Israeli captive Gilad Shalit addresses Gazans through U.N. testimony appeared first on UN Watch.

The panel also heard from Dr. Mirella Siderer, a gynecologist from Ashkelon whose face was disfigured when a Palestinian rocket hit her medical clinic — where she had treated not only Israeli patients, but also Palestinians from nearby Gaza. Other witnesses included Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin and his colleague Dr. Alan Marcus, and Noam Bedein of the Sderot Media Center. Click here for summary.

While the Goldstone panel will be devoting three of its four days of hearings to Palestinian testimony, it was still a rare and welcome sight to see the U.N. — which upholds a permanent infrastructure of special agencies and mechanisms designed to demonize Israel — for once invite Israeli victims and their representatives to speak. Judge Goldstone and his three colleagues deserve credit for allowing this opportunity, especially to Mr. Shalit.

Nevertheless, UN Watch continues to object to any mechanism that is derivative of the absurdly one-sided U.N. Human Rights Council resolution of January 12, 2009 that created this mission — in which Israel was declared guilty from the start — as we have outlined in several statements available on the UN Watch blog here. About this we shall say more later.

*********** 

Oral Testimony of Noam Shalit, Father of Kidnapped Israeli Soldier Gilad Shalit
Delivered to UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict, Geneva, 6 July 2009

My name is Noam Schalit and I am the father of the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit.

Honorable members of the Mission – I thank you for giving me the opportunity to address you today. I thank you, also, for allowing me to make my testimony public. I know that this Mission is determined to give the victims of the recent conflict in Gaza an opportunity to make their voice heard. So – with your kind permission – I would like to use this distinguished forum – the United Nations – first to address you and then to address the people of Gaza and, in particular, the people holding my son Gilad.

Honorable Members of the Mission, a few weeks ago you were in Gaza. You met the Hamas hierarchy. According to the Ma’an news agency – Mr. Ismail Haniyya welcomed your mission deploring what he viewed as Israel’s grave violations of international law. The same news agency reported that the Mission thanked Mr. Haniyya for his cooperation in facilitating its work. Sirs and Madam, if this cooperation is indeed genuine then the same Hamas hierarchy should honor your eventual findings – whatever they may be.

And I have no doubt that after you read my written submissions, you will determine that my son’s violent abduction and his continuing detention subject to extortion is, equally, a violation of international law. After you hear the cassette recording of my son’s voice – released on the first anniversary of his capture – you will be shocked by the callous cynicism of his captors and the grief that his words have caused me and my family. These are words that he was forced to read. You will also find, without a doubt, that the refusal to allow him access to the Red Cross, if not a war crime is, at least, a gross act of inhumanity and an aggravating circumstance.

Members of the Mission – The same Geneva Convention of 1949 which this Mission will use to judge the legality of the Israeli attack on Gaza forbids the holding to ransom of an individual – whether he be soldier or otherwise. The same Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court by which the Palestinian Authority seeks to charge the Israeli hierarchy condemns the Hamas leadership no less for the crime of taking hostages – soldiers or otherwise. The same court in The Hague where the Palestinian Authority pursues Mr. Olmert may equally investigate Mr. Masha’al who – with his Jordanian nationality – falls squarely within the jurisdiction of this institution.

But what is the purpose of this honorable Mission? Is it really to lay the basis for a future criminal prosecution? Or is it, perhaps, to effect reconciliation? Know that the minds and hearts of the Israeli people are with my son on a daily basis. His release – which it is within your power to promote – will bring about such reconciliation.

And now, with you permission, I would like to address the Palestinian victims of Operation Cast Lead.

People of Gaza, I do not come before this Mission as a representative of the Israeli State. I come neither to condemn nor to justify the recent Israeli operations in Gaza. I am not a politician nor do I care for politics. I am a civilian and the father of three.

I last saw my son Gilad on Wednesday 21 June 2006 when he returned to the military service which his country obliged him to perform by law. A few days later, his patrol was sabotaged by armed Palestinians, two of his fellow soldiers were killed before his very eyes and he was abducted. He was nineteen years old at the time. A shy boy with a nervous smile and a studious disposition. Like many his age, all that occupied him were his studies and sport. To all those who know him, he is gentle and sensitive to the suffering of others – a trait he has shown from an early age. At the age of 11, his teacher asked him to write a fable. His drawings and narrative have now been published. I am giving the Mission a copy of this book. You can read it if you wish. The story of a shark and a fish who became friends against all the odds. Need I say more? Suffice to say that the will for peace and security can overcome fear and distrust.

People of Gaza – Do not overlook the circumstances of my son’s service nor of his capture. He was not attacking your territory.  He was not even in your territory. He was operating within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel – protecting the integrity of what was supposed to be a border of peace after a complete Israeli withdrawal.

Your leaders say Gilad is a prisoner of war. I say he is an abductee. The difference is in the interpretation of the law. But even if your leaders hold my son as a prisoner of war – why will they not allow him the privileges which attach to such a status? Gilad has no contact with the outside world. Your leaders refuse him access to the International Committee of the Red Cross – the same Red Cross which regularly visits your people held captive in Israeli prisons. The same Red Cross which protests the violations of their rights to the Israeli Government.

People of Gaza, your leaders are fighting to return your sons and daughters from captivity. This is an understandable desire. You may agree with such a policy. Many of you, however, will realize that the fate of an entire prison population cannot depend on the ransom of one young man.

People of Gaza – Do not ignore the root cause of our mutual suffering. You know that the injustice done to my son was the trigger for war. You also know that the release of my son is the key to peace and the lifting of the Israeli commercial blockade. A small gesture and a little effort on both sides can relieve the misery of many.

President Sarkozy of France recently told Prime Minister Netanyahu that your leaders would not release Gilad until Israel freed prisoners. I am not a party to talks on prisoner release. I am not consulted on numbers and I have no say in the conduct of negotiations. Like many of you, all that concerns me is that the one I love returns home. Do those of you who are waiting for the return of those close to you care for the politics? Do you care for the posturing of your leaders? Or do you – like me – wish that this war and what caused it would never have happened?

But if a prisoner exchange need be the course we are forced to adopt, let reason and moderation overcome excessive demands. Let not a stalemate in the negotiations prevail over the will of the people. Let not stubbornesstriumph over compassion.

People of Gaza – like many of you, we are suffering the consequences of the decisions and failures of others. Like many of you, my family and I have been caught up in a web of violence. Like many of you, I pay a heavy price on a daily basis. I know that you are short of food. Some of your loved ones have been killed – women and children, young and innocent. I understand your distress and sympathize with your grief. I have visited your wounded from Beit Hanoun and, have witnessed, at first hand, the unnecessary suffering and the unspeakable atrocity of war. But even so, I do not compare suffering. As a parent speaking to a multitude of parents – I ask you to understand my family’s anguish. As the days go by, we begin to despair. We despair of the day when we will see our son again. I know neither where he is held nor how he fares. Whether he is injured or whether he is even alive.

And finally to the people holding my son: I urge you to release my son. You have the power to act with grace. Do it for the respectability that you wish the international community to accord you. Do it because you see yourselves as statesmen acting with humane intent. Do it for the sake of the respect you say you show this Mission. Do it not for gain but do it, I beg you, because it is the just and right thing to do. But most important of all, do it for the peace and welfare of your own people.

The post Issue 193: Father of Israeli captive Gilad Shalit addresses Gazans through U.N. testimony appeared first on UN Watch.

The panel also heard from Dr. Mirella Siderer, a gynecologist from Ashkelon whose face was disfigured when a Palestinian rocket hit her medical clinic — where she had treated not only Israeli patients, but also Palestinians from nearby Gaza. Other witnesses included Ashkelon Mayor Benny Vaknin and his colleague Dr. Alan Marcus, and Noam Bedein of the Sderot Media Center. Click here for summary.

While the Goldstone panel will be devoting three of its four days of hearings to Palestinian testimony, it was still a rare and welcome sight to see the U.N. — which upholds a permanent infrastructure of special agencies and mechanisms designed to demonize Israel — for once invite Israeli victims and their representatives to speak. Judge Goldstone and his three colleagues deserve credit for allowing this opportunity, especially to Mr. Shalit.

Nevertheless, UN Watch continues to object to any mechanism that is derivative of the absurdly one-sided U.N. Human Rights Council resolution of January 12, 2009 that created this mission — in which Israel was declared guilty from the start — as we have outlined in several statements available on the UN Watch blog here. About this we shall say more later.

*********** 

Oral Testimony of Noam Shalit
Delivered to UN Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict
Geneva, 6 July 2009

My name is Noam Schalit and I am the father of the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Schalit.

Honorable members of the Mission – I thank you for giving me the opportunity to address you today. I thank you, also, for allowing me to make my testimony public. I know that this Mission is determined to give the victims of the recent conflict in Gaza an opportunity to make their voice heard. So – with your kind permission – I would like to use this distinguished forum – the United Nations – first to address you and then to address the people of Gaza and, in particular, the people holding my son Gilad.

Honorable Members of the Mission, a few weeks ago you were in Gaza. You met the Hamas hierarchy. According to the Ma’an news agency – Mr. Ismail Haniyya welcomed your mission deploring what he viewed as Israel’s grave violations of international law. The same news agency reported that the Mission thanked Mr. Haniyya for his cooperation in facilitating its work. Sirs and Madam, if this cooperation is indeed genuine then the same HAMAS hierarchy should honor your eventual findings – whatever they may be.

And I have no doubt that after you read my written submissions, you will determine that my son’s violent abduction and his continuing detention subject to extortion is, equally, a violation of international law. After you hear the cassette recording of my son’s voice – released on the first anniversary of his capture – you will be shocked by the callous cynicism of his captors and the grief that his words have caused me and my family. These are words that he was forced to read. You will also find, without a doubt, that the refusal to allow him access to the Red Cross, if not a war crime is, at least, a gross act of inhumanity and an aggravating circumstance.

Members of the Mission – The same Geneva Convention of 1949 which this Mission will use to judge the legality of the Israeli attack on Gaza forbids the holding to ransom of an individual – whether he be soldier or otherwise. The same Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court by which the Palestinian Authority seeks to charge the Israeli hierarchy condemns the HAMAS leadership no less for the crime of taking hostages – soldiers or otherwise. The same court in The Hague where the Palestinian Authority pursues Mr. Olmert may equally investigate Mr. Masha’al who – with his Jordanian nationality – falls squarely within the jurisdiction of this institution.

But what is the purpose of this honorable Mission? Is it really to lay the basis for a future criminal prosecution? Or is it, perhaps, to effect reconciliation? Know that the minds and hearts of the Israeli people are with my son on a daily basis. His release – which it is within your power to promote – will bring about such reconciliation.

And now, with you permission, I would like to address the Palestinian victims of Operation Cast Lead.

People of Gaza, I do not come before this Mission as a representative of the Israeli State. I come neither to condemn nor to justify the recent Israeli operations in Gaza. I am not a politician nor do I care for politics. I am a civilian and the father of three.

I last saw my son Gilad on Wednesday 21 June 2006 when he returned to the military service which his country obliged him to perform by law. A few days later, his patrol was sabotaged by armed Palestinians, two of his fellow soldiers were killed before his very eyes and he was abducted. He was nineteen years old at the time. A shy boy with a nervous smile and a studious disposition. Like many his age, all that occupied him were his studies and sport. To all those who know him, he is gentle and sensitive to the suffering of others – a trait he has shown from an early age. At the age of 11, his teacher asked him to write a fable. His drawings and narrative have now been published. I am giving the Mission a copy of this book. You can read it if you wish. The story of a shark and a fish who became friends against all the odds. Need I say more? Suffice to say that the will for peace and security can overcome fear and distrust.

People of Gaza – Do not overlook the circumstances of my son’s service nor of his capture. He was not attacking your territory.  He was not even in your territory. He was operating within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel – protecting the integrity of what was supposed to be a border of peace after a complete Israeli withdrawal.

Your leaders say Gilad is a prisoner of war. I say he is an abductee. The difference is in the interpretation of the law. But even if your leaders hold my son as a prisoner of war – why will they not allow him the privileges which attach to such a status ? Gilad has no contact with the outside world. Your leaders refuse him access to the International Committee of the Red Cross – the same Red Cross which regularly visits your people held captive in Israeli prisons. The same Red Cross which protests the violations of their rights to the Israeli Government.

People of Gaza, your leaders are fighting to return your sons and daughters from captivity. This is an understandable desire. You may agree with such a policy. Many of you, however, will realize that the fate of an entire prison population cannot depend on the ransom of one young man.

Your leaders have committed a crime with respect to my son. They hold him to ransom and, by the same token, they hold all of you to ransom. For three years now, you have been held hostage to the inflexible demands of your leaders and their unwillingness to compromise. They issue demands which, I fear, the Israeli Government will never meet. My son’s fate is the means through which your leaders distract your attention from the destruction they have brought upon you. Is this humane? Are these the acts of an honorable regime?

People of Gaza – Do not ignore the root cause of our mutual suffering. You know that the injustice done to my son was the trigger for war. You also know that the release of my son is the key to peace and the lifting of the Israeli commercial blockade. A small gesture and a little effort on both sides can relieve the misery of many.

President Sarkozy of France recently told Prime Minister Netanyahu that your leaders would not release Gilad until Israel freed prisoners. I am not a party to talks on prisoner release. I am not consulted on numbers and I have no say in the conduct of negotiations. Like many of you, all that concerns me is that the one I love returns home. Do those of you who are waiting for the return of those close to you care for the politics? Do you care for the posturing of your leaders? Or do you – like me – wish that this war and what caused it would never have happened?

But if a prisoner exchange need be the course we are forced to adopt, let reason and moderation overcome excessive demands. Let not a stalemate in the negotiations prevail over the will of the people. Let not stubborness triumph over compassion.

People of Gaza – like many of you, we are suffering the consequences of the decisions and failures of others. Like many of you, my family and I have been caught up in a web of violence. Like many of you, I pay a heavy price on a daily basis. I know that you are short of food. Some of your loved ones have been killed – women and children, young and innocent. I understand your distress and sympathize with your grief. I have visited your wounded from Beit Hanoun and, have witnessed, at first hand, the unnecessary suffering and the unspeakable atrocity of war. But even so, I do not compare suffering. As a parent speaking to a multitude of parents – I ask you to understand my family’s anguish. As the days go by, we begin to despair. We despair of the day when we will see our son again. I know neither where he is held nor how he fares. Whether he is injured or whether he is even alive.

And finally to the people holding my son: I urge you to release my son. You have the power to act with grace. Do it for the respectability that you wish the international community to accord you. Do it because you see yourselves as statesmen acting with humane intent. Do it for the sake of the respect you say you show this Mission. Do it not for gain but do it, I beg you, because it is the just and right thing to do. But most important of all, do it for the peace and welfare of your own people.

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