Media Releases

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council commends the Australian Government for its principled statement opposing the United Nations Human Rights Council’s permanent Commission of Inquiry into Israel,  made on the occasion of the release of the Commission’s first report at the 50th session of the UNHRC in Geneva yesterday.

Amanda Gorely, Australia’s Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, said:

“Australia agrees that the Human Rights Council brings a disproportionate scrutiny to Israel. We do not support the proposition that Israel is the only country that is a permanent item on the HRC agenda, which is why Australia does not and will not engage in Item 7 of the council’s debate, and why we retain our fundamental concerns about the nature of the commission of inquiry. Australia’s guiding principle will be advancing the cause for peace. viewing any conflict from one perspective will not achieve this goal.”

AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said, “We congratulate the Albanese Government for refusing to accept the morally indefensible position of the UN Human Rights Council that makes Israel its only permanent agenda item.

“The new Government’s fundamental concerns about the nature of this Commission of Inquiry have thus proven to be a point of bipartisan agreement in Canberra, and a part of a broad Australian political consensus about our national interests on this issue.

“Australia’s principled position sends some clear messages: Yes to the protection of human rights, yes to universal application of those protections, yes to measures that remove obstacles for peaceful conflict resolution between Israel and the Palestinians, but, most emphatically, no to singling out Israel for disproportionate criticism and scrutiny at the expense of others,” Dr Rubenstein concluded.