Porkins Policy Review

Last night I read Danny Ayalon’s recent article on how Israel is not going to put up with the UN Human rights Council. Mr. Ayalon lays out how the UNHRC has a vendetta out for the Jewish state; consistently singling them out for investigation and scrutiny. He makes the very valid point that just 20 of the 47 nations on the council are considered free by Freedom House. Ayalon points out that the UNHRC is not investigating human rights abuses in Syria, Saudi Arabia or Cuba; the latter two currently sit on UNHRC. Ayalon then states that the Palestinians, and their non-democratic supporters, are using the UNHRC to diplomatically attack the Jewish state.
This predictable response from Israel enforces the fact that Israel is in fact a serial human rights abuser. What does Israel have to fear if there are no human rights violations? If in fact the UNHRC is biased and picking on Israel then let them come and see that there is nothing going on. The reason this will never happen is because Israel knows they are breaking international law. If Israel is a defender of minorities and religious groups, as Ayalon claims, they should have nothing to fear from the investigation.
The weakest claim made by Ayalon is this old notion that there are worse offenders out there. Yes, there are certainly many states in the world that are guilty of horrific human rights abuses, but that does not excuse what Israel does. If Israel truly is the only democratic state in the region they should be adamant about protecting human rights, rather then cower in the face of criticism. For one last example of how idiotic Ayalon’s critique is, look no further than Israel’s increasingly warm relationship with the repressive kleptocracy of Azerbaijan. Any doubt that Israel was not a gross violator of human rights disappeared when hey sold the government of Azerbaijan more than a billion dollars worth of arms.