Reps. Steve Israel (D-NY), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Tom Cole (R-OK) announced that they sent a letter to Navi Pillay, High Commissioner for Human Rights for the UN Human Rights Council calling on her to condemn Hamas’ use of civilians as human shields, which is a direct violation of international law. Hamas, a designated terrorist group, continues to launch missiles aimed at civilians in Israeli population centers and refuses to de-escalate the conflict by agreeing to internationally-backed cease-fires.
In the letter, the representatives write, “The council has established a commission of inquiry to unjustly probe alleged war crimes and violations of international law by the nation defending its citizens from rocket attacks and terror tunnels, rather than the terrorist group whose depravity makes a policy of using its citizens as human shields while its terror commanders flee to fortified bunkers.”
They go on to state, “These grave violations of international law cannot be ignored. Any nation or multilateral body that values human rights must condemn the use of civilians as human shields. This is the effort the United Nations should be leading and you should be speaking out against.”
To read a copy of the letter, click here.
