Israel Unlikely to Cooperate in U.N. Gaza Probe

Israel is unlikely to cooperate with an investigation into war crimes during the Gaza war because it does not trust the U.N. agency performing the probe. The Associated Press quoted an Israeli government official saying that the Jewish state is “very unlikely” to participate in an investigation by the U.N. Human Rights Council and that Israel sent its reponse to the agency’s request last week. Israel believes the council is biased against the Jewish state.

Gaza’s Hamas-led government has said it would work with the council on the investigation, which was initiated in January, not long after Israel’s military operation in Gaza ended. The investigation will be led by Richard Goldstone, a Jewish South African judge and former chief U.N. prosecutor of war crimes in Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

Goldstone said he only accepted the position after the council broadened the scope of the assignment to include possible crimes by Hamas as well as Israel.

{Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel/JTA}