Israel's ambassadors ordered to launch Operation Damage Limitation

Aviv Shir-On, speaking during the November 2012 attack on Gaza, Operation Pillar of Defence. Shir-On, the Israeli foreign ministry’s official responsible for European relations

Israel campaigning to pit European states against Gaza war report

Israeli diplomats go into damage control mode after UN investigative panel finds evidence of possible war crimes on part of both Israel and Hamas.

By Barak Ravid, Ha’aretz
June 24, 2015

Israel has launched a diplomatic campaign aimed at minimizing the damage done by the report released Monday by the UN Human Rights Council’s investigative committee regarding its 2014 war with Hamas, known as Operation Protective Edge.

The committee, headed by American jurist Mary McGowan Davis, found evidence of war crimes on the part of both Israel and Hamas.

The campaign will focus on enlisting the support of European states that serve on the UN Human Rights Council, and convincing them to vote against formally adopting the report at a council meeting scheduled for the end of this month in Geneva. At this stage, Israel has decided not to direct its attacks against Davis.

Aviv Shiron, the Foreign Ministry’s deputy director general responsible for European relations, sent a message to all Israeli embassies in Europe on Monday, instructing them that diplomatic and media efforts aimed at refuting the UN report should be made priority number one ahead of the Geneva meeting, set for June 29.

“Your full attention is required on this issue, and tasks must be delegated,” wrote Shiron. He added that “every effort must be placed in reaching the top levels of political discourse – the decision makers – and the highest-ranking officials and political executives – in order to convey our message and influence their policies.” By doing so, he expressed hope that Israeli diplomats would be able to “prompt them to voice opposition to the report, and the framework in which it was created, to cast doubt on the committee’s mandate, the biased nature of the council, and its constant singling out of Israel.”

Shiron added in his message to Israeli ambassadors that Israel expects the EU member nations, particularly those who sit on the UN Human Rights Council – Estonia, Latvia, France, Germany, the U.K., Ireland, the Netherlands and Portugal – “to reject the report and its conclusions, to express this rejection in various EU forums as well as in Geneva, and vote against the measure to adopt the report or create any kind of framework for following up on it.”

Israeli ambassadors were also asked to highlight the role of former committee chairman William Schabas, a publicly vocal critic of Israel, who stepped down from his position on the committee last March after it was revealed he failed to report on a past financial deal with the PLO that represented a conflict of interest. “It is important to highlight Schabas’ role in defining the report’s character and the fact that he signed various forms pertaining to the report,” wrote Shiron to the diplomats.

On the other hand, Israeli ambassadors were instructed not to criticize Schabas’ replacement on the committee, American jurist Mary McGowan Davis. “Refrain from attacks and direct criticisms of chairwoman Davis, as we will need to work with her in the future,” wrote Davis.

The Israeli ambassadors were also requested to point out that “Israel is a serious and law-abiding nation, and will take every claim levelled against it seriously, including the points contained in the report that we consider to be problematic.”

Meanwhile, U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday that the United States is opposed to bringing the UN [report] to the Security Council for a vote.

Kirby told a daily press briefing that the U.S. government is still reviewing and studying the UN report. He stressed that the U.S. opposes the process by which an investigative committee was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council and is against any further work on the report within the UN.

“We don’t believe that there is a call or a need for further Security Council work on this,” said Kirby.