The UK has called on Israel to co-operate with the global Criminal Court after last year’s war in Gaza, backing a United Nations’ resolution to that effect. He will be the first Indian prime minister to visit Israel since the two countries established full-fledged diplomatic relations in 1992.
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Officials here said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reached out to his Indian counterpart and urged him to abstain during the UNHRC voting. The timing of the announcement suggested a personal rapport between the leaders. Friday’s abstention is another sign of “warming ties” between India and Israel since the election of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, Haáretz reported.
“This is a huge development for India, one of the leaders of the Non-Aligned Movement, which as a movement always voted against Israel”, he noted. They have since kept in touch.
While media reports in Israel described India’s decision as “an unprecedented achievement for Israel”, the MEA here was quick to issue a statement saying there was no change in India’s “long standing position on support to the Palestinian cause”. 41 countries voted in favour of the resolution with only Israel’s close ally USA voting against. The UNHCR resolution also condemned The “indiscriminate” firing of thousands of rockets and mortars by Palestinian militants at Israel, which it said appeared to have been meant to “spread terror” among Israeli civilians.
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While the report accused both Israel and the Palestinians of possible war crimes, its findings focused more on what it considered Israeli wrongdoing in its operation known as Protective Edge. “On the day on which Israel was sacked at from Sinai, and at a time when ISIS is committing vicious terrorist attacks in Egypt, as Assad slaughters his people in Syria and as the number of arbitrary executions per annum climbs in Iran – the United Nations Human Rights Council decides to condemn the State of Israel for no fault of its own, for acting to defend itself from a murderous terrorist organization”. The West Bank barrier and the confiscation of the Palestinian lands, the confiscation of the Palestinian lands, the attempt to change the historic features, judaization of Eastern al Quds, the presence of the Israeli troops in al Masjid al Aqsa, the torture of Palestinians at the Israeli prisons are also blatant violations of the worldwide law.
