Think-tank: Nominating Livni for senior UN post shows disdain for international law

A Palestinian think-tank, the Council on International Relations (CIR), considered nominating alleged war criminal and former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni for a senior UN position as an “unprecedented incident” as Livni stands accused of war crimes for her involvement in the Israeli Operation Cast Lead that lead to the deaths of 1,400 Palestinians in Gaza.

The CIR said: “This is an unprecedented incident that shocked the Palestinian people in general, the victims [of Cast Lead] in particular, bearing in mind that Livni is accused of committing war crimes [and crimes] against humanity in the war Israel waged against Gaza in 2008-2009.”

The council said in a press release issued yesterday that nominating Livni contradicts the fact that there have been lawsuits filed against her in several European countries in which judicial decisions had been taken to arrest her on suspicion of committing war crimes.

Read: Belgium to arrest former Israeli FM for “war crimes”

CIR’s statement said: “Livni, who studied law, once said 10 years ago as Minister of Justice: ‘I am a lawyer…but I am against law – international law in particular. Law in general.’ This proves that she doesn’t respect international law and ignores the basis for which the United Nations was established including ‘maintaining international peace and law’,” the Council explained.

CIR added that such an issue would put the UN in an awkward position that would cause it to lose its credibility as a sponsor of peace and international justice.

CIR called for holding Israeli war criminals accountable and bringing justice instead of rewarding them with senior UN posts.