Human rights: undermining the West and destroying Israel

The modern human rights system has its roots in the enlightenment. It was developed as a legal system in the 1940’s, most famously enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is no coincidence that this Declaration was made in the same year that the State of Israel was created: 1948.

The human rights system was based on a universalist agenda that is highly sceptical of nation states. It was “a new world order … a hard-headed response to the shortcomings of nationalism. The doctrine of international human rights law was created largely by Jewish lawyers—like the visionary Hersch Lauterpacht—who were aghast that the annihilation of millions was considered solely the business of the state involved.”

Over the last seven decades, this United Nations global human rights system, that was supposed to protect the Jewish people and the world from persecution, has become just the reverse: an instrument to undermine states based on Western values, and in particular to destroy the Jewish state.

As Melanie Philips writes in an important essay this week, “universal rights culture does nothing to stop tyrants abroad, while at home it undermines democracy and cultural bonds.” Moreover, “International human rights law will never protect Israel. Instead, that law is being used by Israel’s enemies as the weapon with which they intend to destroy it.”

This is amply illustrated by the latest (third) UNHRC Commission of Inquiry (COI) report that was published yesterday. Israeli organization NGO Monitor has analyzed this report and concluded:

“This third report of the COI firmly demonstrates that its work is not that of a legitimate investigatory body but rather one engaged in producing disinformation to bolster BDS and marginalize Jews that speak out against terrorism and antisemitism.

The modern human rights industry is hugely funded. It is controlled by dictatorships like Iran, China and Saudi Arabia which refuse to respect the human rights of their own people. It is a system that invents its own reality, in which Zionism is condemned, Jews are vilified, and Israel is pilloried as a war criminal.

In the meantime, the Jewish people get on with the real-life work of returning to the land, and building a society based on justice, compassion and the rule of law – in a region where hate and violence have the upper hand.

It is hard work and involves difficult choices. Every day, Israel faces dilemmas and challenges that the world refuses to understand. But the fact remains: despite the odds, Israel while far from perfect is one of the most successful, democratic and humane countries in the world.

And the return of the Jewish people to their land is in the face of massive challenges. This week, the Jews of Ukraine face a new disaster in the making. As our colleague Koen Carlier reports, the important dam near Nova Kakhovka has been destroyed and large parts of the Kherson province (28,000 square kilometres in size) are flooded. The Christians for Israel team is working day and night to evacuate the Jewish community of the Kherson province and in Zaporizhzhya.

The Editorial Team Israel & Christians Today

The UN inquisition to vilify Israel
Maurice Hirsch writes at Times of Israel: “The third instalment of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appointed Inquisition to vilify Israel and the Jews is out, and it is safe to say that even Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels himself would be proud of the product. Using selective evidence, selected witnesses, manipulative techniques, sleight of hand, invented methodology, and standards, all mixed with a huge dollop of bias and classic antisemitism, Navi Pillay and her co-conspirators have produced another travesty of fact, justice, and morality.”
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