Holland won’t chide Israel for severing ties with UN body

Netherlands will not condemn Israel for breaking ties with the UN Human Rights Council

By CNAAN LIPSHIZ, BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
UNHRC 370 (photo credit: Reuters)
UNHRC 370
(photo credit: Reuters)
THE HAGUE/BERLIN – The Netherlands will not condemn Israel for breaking ties with the UN Human Rights Council, the Dutch minister for European Affairs and International Cooperation said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile in Germany, Israel received support from the Berlin chapter of the youth organization of the Social Democratic Party who passed a “Solidarity with Israel” resolution earlier this week.
The Dutch cabinet intends to wait for the Israeli government’s official statement on its relations with the UNHRC due sometime next week, Secretary for Foreign Affairs Ben Knapen said in replying to a parliamentary query.
Knapen went on to criticize the council’s proposed fact-finding mission on settlements.
“In comparison with other such missions, we think the mission to Israel was disproportionate,” he added.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman announced Israel would no longer cooperate with the UNHRC on Monday, after the council passed a resolution to launch a probe into how settlements may be infringing on Palestinians’ rights.
Knapen was asked whether the cabinet intended to criticize Israel together with other EU countries, in a query by Frans Timmermans, an MP for the Dutch Labor.
In his reply, Knapen said the council singled Israel out for criticism. During the last six years, the council saw the passing of 43 resolutions against Israel compared to five against Syria.
The Dutch daily Reformatorisch Dagblad reported that MPs Raymond De Roon of the Party for Freedom and Joel Voordewind of the ChristenUnie party inquired whether the Netherlands might itself leave the Council.
Knapen replied that a number of other UN organizations also needed a few decades to define where their authority lay.
“In that respect I feel we should not be discouraged,” he said.
In Berlin, the youth organization of the German Social Democratic (SPD) party passed a “Solidarity with Israel” resolution at their convention supporting Israel’s right to military self-defense measures against Iran’s nuclear program. The SPD Berlin youth organization plays a role in cultivating future leadership for the national, regional and local politics.
According to the resolution, “After we stood behind Israel’s right to self-defense in 2006 and 2009 against Hezbollah and Hamas, we are now reacting to the current threat from Iran’s nuclear program.”
The resolution continued, “if diplomatic measures, that is also sanctions, do not lead to success” we defend targeted military strikes against Iran’s atomic program.
The young social democrats slammed SPD deputies Rolf Mütenzich and Uta Zapf for working to prevent a military option to force Iran to abandon its nuclear program.