Israel's Western European and Others Group status abuses international law

Israel’s inclusion in the Western European and Others Group (WEOG) by the UN in New York was hailed by allied countries and affiliated organisations as a move which would counter the alleged isolation within the international community faced by the colonising power. The initiative was undertaken by the US, Australia, the UK, Germany, France and Canada, outlined in a letter which affirmed public support for Israel’s request to join the group permanently.

Official statements expounded upon the importance of Israel’s inclusion. The Zionist state’s UN Mission declared, “After decades of discrimination [sic], a historical wrong has been corrected. Israel’s voice will finally be heard loud and clear in WEOG in Geneva.” The identical sentiment was expressed by America’s ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, who deemed the inclusion “important”, adding, “For far too long Israel has been excluded unfairly from regional bodies at the United Nations.” The New York based AJC Global Jewish Advocacy also praised the decision, stating on its website that the organisation had “conducted a multi-year campaign to secure that result”. AJC director David Harris said that the WEOG admission is a preliminary step which should help Israel to combat the alleged discrimination it faces before the UN Human Rights Council.

US Secretary of State John Kerry focused his comments on the alleged inbuilt UN bias against Israel: “We will continue to speak out for our close ally, Israel, and we will continue to support efforts to normalise Israel’s treatment across the UN system as a full and equal member of the community of nations.”

What Israel’s allies deem to be the result of “many months of serious diplomatic effort” is actually an attempt at the further masking of Israel’s crimes in the ongoing colonisation of Palestine. Despite its mantra about international anti-Israel bias, the international community has perfected its passive and therefore totally meaningless condemnations of Israel’s violations of international laws and conventions. For its part, Israel has stated that it is looking forward to playing “a bigger role in the human rights activities in Geneva”, giving the erroneous impression that its inclusion in the WEOG corrects a defect within the human rights framework.

The exclusion of Palestine from the equation remains a constant factor in any discussion regarding Israel; an element which allows the UN to invalidate Palestinian experience and memory. The acceptance of Israel into the WEOG signals automatically an acceptance of colonisation, establishing international complicity in the subjugation of people who are embodying resistance as inscribed within international law. It is the alienation from Palestine which allows Israel to consolidate its comfort zone and vocalise its allegations of anti-Semitic incitement; this Zionist cult of victimhood is echoed by John Kerry, who emphasised the importance of promoting Israel’s concerns.

Meanwhile, the latest imperial venture has garnered an additional triumph in its scale of globally supported oppression in the name of equality, impartiality and inclusion, reflecting Israel’s competence in maintaining its agenda and policy of political violence. The inclusion has amounted to nothing more than an insight into the manipulation and abuse of international law, reflecting the historical circumstances upon which imperialism is constructed, this time at the expense of rendering Palestinian memory and rights inconsequential.

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