Lapid to speak at right-wing event, protest UNHRC

Lapid said on Tuesday that “the UNHRC lost its legitimacy long ago” and the demonstrators will protest its “hypocrisy and disproportionality.”

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN, LAHAV HARKOV
Finance Minister Yair Lapid (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Finance Minister Yair Lapid
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid will continue his efforts to woo Center-Right voters next Monday when he addresses a meeting of the Land of Israel caucus that will push Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to permit building in Ma'ale Adumim.
The meeting was planned following the stabbing with an ax of Ma'ale Adumim mall security guard Tzvika Cohen last week. Ma'ale Adumim resident have been complaining for many years that there is no building taking place in the settlement located just outside Jerusalem.
"The reality in which a city that is in the Israeli consensus cannot develop because of a diplomatic building freeze is absurd and unacceptable in a sovereign state," the heads of the caucus, MKs Yoav Kisch (Likud) and Bezalel Smotrich (Bayit Yehudi) said in a joint statement. "The time has come to say enough is enough and urge the government to build, especially now. We will continue to raise the issue until the freeze is melted." Later this month, Lapid plans to speak at a demonstration outside the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva protesting its bias against Israel, as it discusses a series of anti-Israel resolutions.
Since its creation 10 years ago, the UNHRC has written more resolutions against Israel than the rest of the world combined.
The demonstration was organized by a coalition of pro-Israel organizations, including the Israel Allies Foundation, StandWithUs, Swiss-Israel Friendship Association, European Union of Jewish Students, World Union of Jewish Students, World Zionist Organization and others. European parliamentarians will also attend, and Israelis plan to tell personal stories at the event.
Lapid said on Tuesday that “the UNHRC lost its legitimacy long ago” and the demonstrators will protest its “hypocrisy and disproportionality.”
“While hundreds of thousands are killed and millions displaced in Syria, while terrorists are beheading people and forcing women into slavery in Iraq, while millions of people can only dream of basic freedoms, the UN Human Rights Council has condemned Israel more times than the rest of the world combined,” Lapid stated. “The UN Human Rights Council is no longer fit for purpose to protect human rights.”