The UNHRC is obsessively hostile towards Israel, not surprising as the Commissioner is Jordanian and directs Council activities against Israel to advance the agenda of the Hashemite King.
Many in Israel are amazed as to why the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has made Israel the focus of its attention, turning it into a target. Why is there such explicit bias in the decisions of the Council against Israel? We received the answer, or at least part of it, a few days ago on the 28th of September 2017. On that day, “Ha’aretz” reported in its main headline:
“The UN has warned companies who operate in the settlements that they will be placed on a black list: A number of them announced that they will leave Israel.”
The subheading read:
“The Human Rights Commissioner has begun to issue warnings to about 150 companies. Israeli official: The fear is being realized, foreign companies are not differentiating between Israel and the [West] Bank and are ceasing to operate in Israel.”
In the body of the text, Barak Ravid wrote:
“Two weeks ago, the UNHRC High Commissioner, Jordanian Prince Zeid bin Raid [Error in the original, it should read Ra’ad — MK.] al-Hussein began to send warning letters…”
Though there are those who relate to the UNHRC as an international institution void of identity, it is perhaps appropriate to pay attention to who the High Commissioner is. The UNHRC High Commissioner, the person who stands at the head of the same council that has made Israel almost its only point of focus, is Jordanian. He is a second cousin of late King Hussein, the father of the current king and a central member of the Hashemite family that the British brought to rule in Jordan. You could say with confidence that Zeid bin Ra’ad is very close with Abdullah, the King of Jordan. Between 2000 and 2007, Ra’ad served as the Jordanian Ambassador to the UN over seven years and as the Jordanian Ambassador to the United States over three years, from when he finished his previous job until 2010. After Zeid bin Ra’ad filled numerous roles in international institutions, he was elected as the UNHCR High Commissioner in June 2014 and since then he has stood behind the unbridled attack of the UN Human Rights Council against Israel.
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UNHRC – AN INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTION SERVING A BRANCH OF THE JORDANIAN GOVERNMENT
Anyone who understands the importance of being the Jordanian Ambassador to the UN and the United States understands that such a person needs to be incredibly close to the king, a confidant whom the king talks with frequently. More than that, the word “close” does not begin to describe the full significance of the closeness as it is clear that the King was the one who pushed for the appointment of this man to serve as the UNHRC High Commissioner. In order to do what? To take care of women’s rights in Jordan? In order to check how the King has treated the Palestinian majority in Jordan? In order to check what is happening to the international aid that has been sent in its convoluted way to poor Syrian refugees living in tent cities in Jordan? No, no and no.
The King pushed for the appointment of his family member for one reason: To besmirch Israel and ruin its reputation in the world by way of critical reports published by his family member. All this so that Israel is forced to establish another Palestinian terror state in Judea and Samaria, with its capital in East Jerusalem, and so that the King and his family can continue to rule over the millions of Palestinians that are found in the artificial creation known as “The Jordanian Hashemite Kingdom.” The King has an interest in the establishment of a Palestinian state so as to not allow the Palestinians to sue for a state in the place that they have a majority, northwest Jordan.
It is true that the UNHCR did not begin its explicit actions against Israel with the appointment of Zeid bin Ra’ad. It had a supremely negative record against Israel for many years beforehand. However, this is the reason that the King pushed for the appointment of his family member to be the head of the Council. After all, in such an anti-Israeli council, it is easier for him to pass anti-Israeli resolutions such as supporting the economic boycott against Israel.
Zeid bin Ra’ad served in his family role faithfully and sent out warning letters to companies serving in Israel. In this way King Abdullah the Second, ruler over the Hashemite Kingdom, stabbed Israel in the back, even while Israel’s politicians are still reciting the same phrase “the peace with Jordan is a strategic asset.” They do not understand that at the same time that the King embraces them, he is sticking a sword in their back. In exchange for the quiet along the Jordanian border, we will pay with Kassam rockets from the Palestinian state that the King is pressuring us to establish in Judea and Samaria. These missiles that will fall in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Dimona, Afula and everywhere in between, including Ben Gurion Airport, in the model of the Kassams that are launched at us from Gaza.
With friends like these who needs enemies? As I have written in the past, the time has come to wake up and to calculate a new path with the Hashemite Kingdom. It seems to me that many of our politicians, new recruits in the winding paths of the Middle East, have fallen asleep at the wheel and are refusing to read the flashing warning signs along the road. Perhaps because they are written in Arabic.
Dr. Mordechai Kedar is a lecturer in the Department of Arabic Studies at Bar Ilan University
. It seems to me that many of our politicians, new recruits in the winding paths of the Middle East, have fallen asleep at the wheel and are refusing to read the flashing warning signs along the road. Perhaps because they are written in Arabic.