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GENEVA, March 17, 2009 — UN
Watch is leading a coalition of 24 organizations that oppose
antisemitism and anti-Israeli prejudice—from Sweden, Ireland, France,
Belgium, Israel, Italy, Germany and Switzerland—that will hold a “Rally
for Equal Rights” tomorrow, Monday, March 18, facing the UN Human
Rights Council, on the same day it launches an unprecedented assault on
Israel.
Eminent diplomats, authors, parliamentarians, national
security experts and activists will address the event, to be broadcast live at www.unwatch.org/rally
at 12:30 pm Geneva time (in US, 7:30 am Eastern).
Chartered buses of rally participants are coming from
Zurich, Lausanne, Milan, Lyon and Grenoble, with additional activists
and student leaders flying in from London, Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels,
Stockholm, Budapest, Vienna, Tbilisi and Jerusalem.
The 47-nation body is set to release seven
biased reports accusing the Jewish state of "war crimes,"
and giving a free pass to Hamas. A few days later, the council will
condemn Israel in five unbalanced
resolutions that likewise make no mention of Hamas, Islamic
Jihad or the Palestinian Authority.
One thousand activists from across Europe are
expected to join UN Watch’s international protest against anti-Israeli
hatred—the Rally
for Equal Rights at the United Nations—with more than 10,000
signing the petition
that will be presented before the UN that day.
The new Commission of Inquiry will present its one-sided
report on Israel’s “assault” on “civilian protesters” at the Gaza
border, accusing Israeli soldiers of “crimes against humanity.” The
UNHRC will call on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights “to manage
the dossiers on alleged perpetrators"—IDF soldiers—"to be
provided to the International Criminal Court.” Click
here for UN Watch's legal critique of the shoddy report.
Additionally, the UNHRC will provide an update on
their blacklist of companies who do business with Israelis living in
Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter and the West Bank, which UN rights chief
Bachelet said will be released in "coming months."
Finally, the UNHRC will release yet another five
reports singling out Israel—the only democracy in the Middle
East—but none on gross abuses committed by China, Turkey, Cuba, and
other of the world’s worst regimes.
Before the rally on Monday, inside the UN Human Rights
Council debate against Israel, UN Watch's delegates will take the floor
to call out he unprecedented assault on the rights of Israelis.
Also on Monday at the UN, next to the Council chamber, UN
Watch will host an expert panel event, featuring renowned law of
war expert Geoffrey Cornand three other analysts,
to analyze the Gaza inquiry report.
"Through its relentless bias and demonization of the
Jewish nation, the UN is abandoning its own founding
principles of universality and equality," said Hillel Neuer,
executive director of UN Watch. "It's time for the UN to uphold
the UN Charter promise of equal rights for all nations, large and
small."
SPEAKERS:
• Dr. Dore Gold,
President of Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, former Israeli
ambassador to UN & director of Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• Ambassador
Richard Grenell, U.S. Ambassador to Germany,
former U.S. spokesman to UN
• Philippe Val, French
author, journalist, former Editor-in-Chief of Charlie Hebdo
• Dr. Einat Wilf, Author,
intellectual, former Member of Knesset
• Col. Richard Kemp, National
security expert, author, former commander of British Forces in
Afghanistan
• Hillel Neuer, Executive
Director of UN Watch
• Czech MP Jan Bartošek,
Vice-ChaIr of Chamber of Deputies
• Péter Niedermüller, Member
of European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee
• Dutch MP Kees van der Staaij, Leader
of the Reformed Political Party (SGP), initiated 2017
motion calling on Dutch government to oppose anti-Israel bias at
the UN.
QUOTES, PHOTOS, VIDEO (AVAILABLE TOMORROW)
• 10:00
am - UN Watch Side Event: Expert Response to Gaza
Inquiry
EVENT CO-SPONSORS:
UN Watch, International
Council of Jewish Women, StandWithUs, NGO Monitor, Association
Suisse-Israel, CRIF, B’nai B’rith Europe, European Coalition for
Israel, The Israeli Jewish Congress, World WIZO, The Israel
Project, World Zionist Organization, ELNET, European Alliance for
Israel, European Union of Jewish Students, Ireland Israel Alliance,
Belgian Friends of Israel, The International Legal Forum, Audiatur,
Honestly Concerned, My Truth, Sweden Israel Alliance
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