Foreign Ministry summons ambassadors over Gaza probe
Spain's and Slovenia's envoys have been called to the Ministry.
By HERB KEINONUpdated: MAY 22, 2018 03:24Female Palestinian demonstrators react to tear gas fired by Israeli forces at during a protest in Gaza(photo credit: MOHAMMED SALEM/REUTERS)
The Foreign Ministry summoned the ambassadors of Spain and Slovenia on Monday to protest their country’s vote last Friday in the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva in favor of a commission of inquiry into the incidents on the Gaza fence over the last seven weeks The ambassador of the other EU country that voted in favor of the establishment of the committee – Belgium – will be called in for a reprimand on Tuesday by the Foreign Ministry’s deputy director-general for Europe, Rodica Radian-Gordon.The five other EU countries on the Human Rights Council – Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Slovakia and the United Kingdom – abstained on the measure.The measure passed by a vote of 29 for, the US and Australia against, 14 abstentions and two no-shows.The fact that three EU countries voted in favor of the move is a slide from 2009, when the same body voted in favor of the establishment of the Goldstone Commission to investigate the IDF’s 2008-2009 Operation Cast Lead against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. At that time, all 10 EU countries on the committee abstained in the vote that passed by a vote of 29-1, with 17 abstentions. Slovenia, Belgium and Spain were not members at the time.By contrast, two African countries that voted against Israel in 2009, abstained this time around: Ethiopia and Kenya.
