Gerald Steinberg 2 (2)Click here to read full article.

[EXCERPTS]

…Schabas has now suddenly resigned after the exposure of his consulting job with the PLO. The failure to disclose this obvious conflict of interest violates one of the basic principles that lawyers are supposed to follow, and highlights the lack of due diligence by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which selected Schabas. As in many similar cases, the revelation also raises the question of other skeletons that might be hiding in his closet.

For example, there is the relationship between Schabas and Shawan Jabarin – an alleged senior PFLP activist and director of Al Haq, an NGO centrally involved in the lawfare strategy of attacking Israel by exploiting international judicial frameworks.

While Schabas has stated that the “investigation” of Israeli war crimes and the writing of his “report” is almost complete, it is clear that if this document is published, it will be morally stained and lack any legitimacy from the beginning. This stain is not only from the secret PLO consultation relationship, but goes much deeper.

The appointment of Schabas was designed to succeed where the Goldstone fiasco failed – to produce an indictment of Israel that could be used to promote the opening of case against Israelis in the International Criminal Court. And while his history of bias was well known at the time, and a number of delegates in the UNHRC session criticized both Schabas and the warped mandate, he was approved. As in many such UN kangaroo courts, the case against Israel by the Schabas Commission was to be based largely on the “evidence” provided by the network of anti-Israel groups claiming a human rights agenda.

With so much evidence of failure, any continuation of this pseudo-investigation would only serve to highlight the immoral exploitation of human rights and international law as a weapon to target Israel. In contrast, the demise of the UN’s Schabas Commission would mark the long-delayed end to this farce.