On a visit to 
Israel and the PA-controlled territories, Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has continued his country’s policy of terror appeasement.
Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called for an Israeli settlement freeze in the West Bank and a relaunch of the Middle East peace process, during a visit on Thursday.
“The complete halt and freeze of settlements is a fundamental issue. We need to see that happen despite the difficult conditions so we can continue the political negotiations,” he reporters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Meanwhile, in an Israellycool exclusive, here is footage of Zapatero in his hotel, taken by a secret camera.
Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)
4:18PM: here’s the vote down from today’s shameful proceedings at the UNRC session.
25 Yes, 11 Abstain, 6 No
Abstentions:
Belgium
Bosnia
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Gabon
Japan
Mexico
Norway
Korea
Slovenia
Uruguay
No:
Hungary
Italy
Netherlands
Slovakia
Ukraine
USA
Countries that did not vote:
United Kingdom
Madagascar
Kyrgyzstan
France
Angola
Yes:
Argentina
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Bolivia
Brazil
Chile
China
Cuba
Djbouti
Egypt
Ghana
India
Indonesia
Jordan
Mauritius
Nicaragua
Nigeria
Pakistan
Philippines
Qatar
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
South Afrivca
Zambia
1:35PM: Day of shame: The Arab-endorsed Draft Resolution to endorse the biased Goldstone report has been adopted as orally revised: 6 against, 11 abstentions, 25 in favor
11:52AM: Colonel Richard Kemp has just testified to the UNHRC.
Thank you, Mr. President.
I am the former commander of the British forces in Afghanistan. I served with NATO and the United Nations; commanded troops in Northern Ireland, Bosnia and Macedonia; and participated in the Gulf War. I spent considerable time in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, and worked on international terrorism for the UK Government’s Joint Intelligence Committee.
Mr. President, based on my knowledge and experience, I can say this: During Operation Cast Lead, the Israeli Defence Forces did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.
Israel did so while facing an enemy that deliberately positioned its military capability behind the human shield of the civilian population.
Hamas, like Hizballah, are expert at driving the media agenda. Both will always have people ready to give interviews condemning Israeli forces for war crimes. They are adept at staging and distorting incidents.
The IDF faces a challenge that we British do not have to face to the same extent. It is the automatic, Pavlovian presumption by many in the international media, and international human rights groups, that the IDF are in the wrong, that they are abusing human rights.
The truth is that the IDF took extraordinary measures to give Gaza civilians notice of targeted areas, dropping over 2 million leaflets, and making over 100,000 phone calls. Many missions that could have taken out Hamas military capability were aborted to prevent civilian casualties. During the conflict, the IDF allowed huge amounts of humanitarian aid into Gaza. To deliver aid virtually into your enemy’s hands is, to the military tactician, normally quite unthinkable. But the IDF took on those risks.
Despite all of this, of course innocent civilians were killed. War is chaos and full of mistakes. There have been mistakes by the British, American and other forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq, many of which can be put down to human error. But mistakes are not war crimes.
More than anything, the civilian casualties were a consequence of Hamas’ way of fighting. Hamas deliberately tried to sacrifice their own civilians.
Mr. President, Israel had no choice apart from defending its people, to stop Hamas from attacking them with rockets.
And I say this again: the IDF did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare.
Thank you, Mr. President.
8:08AM: The United Nations Human Rights Council is expected to endorse the Goldstone Report today, despite Israel’s lobbying efforts.
Meanwhile, if you would like to better understand the report, go here.
