Mere Rhetoric: Boston Globe Notices UN Is Not Entirely Fair To Israel (Plus: Lebanese Muslims Pissed That Even Israel Is More Humane Than Syria) [Video]

The Boston Globe (whaaa?) has a piece that is somewhat unsympathetic to the formal and binding decision by the UN Human Rights Commission to exclusively single out Israel for demonization. It's by Irwin Cotler, a Canadian member of Parliament and a former minister of justice and attorney general of Canada, and he is not pleased:

This discriminatory treatment is not only prejudicial to Israel, but it is a breach of the United Nations Charter's foundational principle of "equality for all nations, large and small," and it concluded a week - and year - of unprecedented discriminatory conduct. The week began with Archbishop Desmond Tutu reporting to the UN Human Rights Council on the fact-finding mission to investigate the Israeli "willful killing of Palestinian civilians" in Beit Hanoun, Gaza, in November 2006. He received a standing ovation, an extraordinary reaction by a body that frowns even upon applause. I suspect the appreciation was as much for the man as anything else. For the mandate that authorized the mission was a sham. It made a mockery of the council's own founding principles and procedures.

We're not sure if this is Anglo understatement or genuine confusion, but our hunch is that the applause were for to the man and his mandate. We originally wrote about the UN's decision to send Tutu to Israel here. The title of the post was "UN Sends Committed ~~Anti-Semite~~ Anti-Zionist To Conduct Unbiased Investigation Of Zionists". Even by our admittedly jaded standards, it probably rose to the level of a rant - the rank bias was just that transparent. More from Cotler on the how the bias has become even more shameless:

The mandate... made a mockery of Kofi Annan's vision for the new council and of its founding principles of universality, equality, and fairness. First, I could not accept a mandate to hear only one side of a dispute. The terms of reference deliberately ignored the Palestinian rocket attacks on the Israeli city of Sderot that preceded Israel's actions... Second, the mandate also violated the presumption of innocence. The resolution establishing this fact-finding mission began by condemning "the Israeli willful killing of Palestinian civilians." The 19 Palestinian dead were a tragedy. But how could one participate in a fact-finding mission where the facts and the verdict were determined in advance?... Regrettably, this discriminatory and one-sided approach has become the norm... For example, there have been nine resolutions condemning one member state only - Israel

Among the anti-Israel resolutions that get debated are recurring condemnations of Israel's defensive actions against Hezbollah. Syria never seems to come up. Here's what a Lebanese Muslim leader thinks about that:

We're going to take a pass on "Islam is the religion of tolerance and brotherhood... We call upon the courageous army... not to be held back by mercy or compassion. Even if they enter mosques, destroy these mosques over their heads because they deserve it". Except to say: imagine if an Israeli Defense Minister had said it. Or - worse - an Israeli rabbi under constant Palestinian rocket barrage.

References:
* Human rights travesty [Boston Globe]
* UN Human Rights Commission Makes It Official: They Will Only Monitor, Condemn Israel [MR]
* UN Sends Committed Anti-Semite Anti-Zionist To Conduct Unbiased Investigation Of Zionists [MR]
* Israel Was More Merciful Than Syria [leonlazarevic / YouTube]

Previously:
* The UN Watch Video - "I Will Not Tolerate Any Similar Statements In the Council... Taken Out of the Records"
* UN: Murder of Jews Not Really Our Problem
* UN Sec-Gen Is Either Lying Or Very, Very Stupid

Cross-posted to:
* Israpundit
* The Astute Bloggers