The Davis (Schabas) Report’s Extraordinary Moral Inversion

It was widely predicted that the UN Human Rights Council’s Davis (formerly Schabas) Report would constitute another attack on Israel’s legitimacy, which is very much par for the course at the HRC. A preview was issued last Monday seems to affirm that will be the case.

NGO Monitor revealed that anti-Israel NGOs have had a major influence on the UN Gaza Report, providing 201 citations as sources of information. The role of such organisations is widely understood to focus on demonising Israel in international forums. Indeed, even their own mission statements reveal highly partisan political posturings and fabricated Israeli identities for some, so relying on the use of such NGOs to a substantive extent is wholly unacceptable.

Arutz Sheva published criticism by retired a US Army Lieutenant Colonel, Professor Geoffrey S. Corn. Professor Corn asserts that the report “distorted” international law, by constructing legal arguments which were totally detached from reality. He also criticised the committee for not featuring military commanders. And indeed the Davis report explicitly misrepresented the legal basis to falsely describe Gaza as an “occupied” region.

Similarly, whilst the report criticises the Arab-Palestinian terror groups for targeting Israeli civilians, the study’s apparent balance is a façade. It formulated a new apologia for the principle Gazan terror group by misleadingly characterising Hamas’ efforts to terrorise the civilian populace of Israel as “warnings,” which the Israeli populace could heed thanks to the protection afforded by the Iron Dome system!

Could it be that the HRC committee felt Hamas was working in sympathy with the Iron Dome system to save Israel’s civilians? When Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum stated “an Iron Dome will be needed in every Israeli home,” was he giving Israel some kindly tactical advice to protect its civilians? Who knows how they would interpret such a threat, given that this is the same UN which condemned Israel for not sharing its Iron Dome technology with the terror group!