TEL AVIV — Israel will refuse to cooperate with a United Nations investigation into this year's Gaza war, its foreign ministry said, accusing the inquiry of having "no concerns other than attacking Israel." The United Nations Human Rights Council was set to look at the conduct of Israel and Hamas during the conflict that saw more than 2,000 people die, most of them Palestinian civilians. But Israel issued a statement on Wednesday night dismissing the investigation as a "kangaroo court" and accused its chairman, Canadian academic William Schabas, of anti-Israeli bias.
"It is very sad to see a human rights council appoint a commission with a record of anti-Israel comments," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Paul Hirschson told NBC News. "We take human rights seriously but we will not work with a commission who has no concerns other than attacking Israel." Israel's military opened five criminal investigations in September into its own operations in Gaza, including attacks that killed four Palestinian children on a beach and 17 people at a U.N. school.
IN-DEPTH
- Lawahez Jabari and Alexander Smith
Reuters contributed to this report.