Israel election as UN committee chair 'mockery' of charter: Iran
Iran has denounced Israel's election to the chair of a permanent UN committee which came after the US and Europeans flouted the body's internal mechanisms.
“This is a mockery of all principles of the UN Charter,” Iran's deputy permanent representative to the UN Gholam-Hossein Dehqani said on Thursday.
Israel’s representative to the UN Danny Danon was elected Monday to head the UN's Legal Committee, also called the Sixth Committee, which oversees issues related to international law.
Dehqani described Israel as “the principal violator of international law,” saying the regime's election to the chair is a clear example of double standards on the part of the United Nations and the West.
The UN has six permanent committees and its heads are normally elected by consensus without a vote but the US and the Europeans superseded the norm to have Israel at the helm of the legal panel.
Deputy US ambassador to the UN, David Pressman, reacted furiously when Muslim nations and the Palestinians objected to the choice.
“We need a United Nations that includes Israel, that brings Israel closer, not one that systematically pushes Israel away,” he said.
The Arab League and 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) opposed the election, the chief Palestinian delegate at the UN, Riyad Mansour, said.
Mansour described Israel as “the biggest violator of international law,” saying the choice was “threatening the work of the Sixth Committee.”
The US is always there to veto any resolution denouncing Israeli violations, which have put Tel Aviv and the international body on the worst collision course in recent history.
On Monday, the UN warned Israel of unspecified action over its failure to cooperate with its reporters.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein slammed Tel Aviv for denying UN special rapporteurs access to the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
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