Saturday, August 02, 2014

Navi Pillay and The Right to Know

In Geneva, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Thursday accused both Israel and Hamas militants of violating the rules of war and got quite specific:
Pillay also took aim at the U.S., Israel's main ally, for providing financial support for Israel's "Iron Dome" anti-rocket defense system. "No such protection has been provided to Gazans against the shelling," she said.
It's also here:
The UN chairwoman criticized the U.S. for helping fund Israel's Iron Dome system which has saved countless Israeli and Palestinian lives. "No such protection has been provided to Gazans against the shelling," she said.
Amnesty has it this way:
"They have not only provided the heavy weaponry which is now being used by Israel in Gaza, but they’ve also provided almost $1 billion in providing the Iron Domes to protect Israelis from the rockets attacks, but no such protection has been provided to Gazans against the shelling," said Navi Pillay, U.N. human rights high commissioner. "So I am reminding United States that it’s a party to international humanitarian law and human rights law."

Al-Jazeera:

Pillay also criticised the US, Israel's main ally, for failing to use its influence to halt the violence."They have not only provided the heavy weaponry which is now being used by Israel in Gaza, but they've also provided almost $1bn in providing the Iron Domes to protect Israelis from the rockets attacks," she said. 

"No such protection has been provided to Gazans against the shelling."
However, the official version at the Media Centre site of the UN is lacking this accusation. 

Is Pillay violating the public's right to know?

Did she censor herself?

____________

P.S.


President Obama ignores her criticism:

I have been very clear throughout this crisis that Israel has a right to defend itself.  No country can tolerate missiles raining down on its cities...And so, not only have we been supportive of Israel in its right to defend itself, but in very concrete terms -- for example, in support for the Iron Dome program that has intercepted rockets that are firing down on Israeli cities -- we've been trying to cooperate as much as we can to make sure that Israel is able to protect its citizens.

Now, at the same time, we've also been clear that innocent civilians in Gaza caught in the crossfire have to weigh on our conscience and we have to do more to protect them.  A cease-fire was one way in which we could stop thekilling...Israel committed to that 72-hour cease-fire, and it was violated.  And trying to put that back together is going to be challenging, but we will continue to make those efforts.


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1 comment:

Ilana B said...

She leaves the Iron Dome issue in the wishes of a 7-year-old child. In a way that makes her silly logic make some kind of sense - she sees the world as a 7-year-old. That's sweet, but who let's 7-year-olds make geopolitical evaluations?