Navi Pillay Is In Israel And Already One Of Her Visits Has Been Cancelled

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay is visiting Israel:

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, will visit Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory from 6 to 11 February 2011.

During her visit, Ms. Pillay will meet officials at the highest level, including Israeli President Shimon Peres, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Ms. Pillay is also scheduled to meet a number of ministers on both sides, members of the Israeli Knesset and the president of the Supreme Court of Israel.


The High Commissioner will use the opportunity to meet Israeli and Palestinian human rights defenders, the Palestinian Independent Commission on Human Rights, and UN agencies working on the ground.

In Israel, Ms. Pillay will pay her respects at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and visit Sderot, the Bialik-Rogozin school and the Human Rights class at Darraj Elementary Coed School.

The High Commissioner plans include, among others, tours to parts of the West Bank, as well as Gaza, including Beit Hanoun, to speak to affected groups and get a first-hand view of the situation on the ground.

The High Commissioner will hold a press conference at 12:00 on Friday, 11 February 2011 at the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem.

--and already, there has been a cancellation: Pillay will not be visiting Bar Ilan University as originally planned:

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights was invited to lecture at Bar - Ilan University. The students, who see her as a senior figure in promoting an anti-Israel agenda decided to prevent the arrival - and canceled the lecture.

...In Operation Cast Lead, the students gave as an example, Pillay accused the soldiers of the IDF of cold-blooded murder in some cases. Likewise, she claimed that Israel bombed hospitals without reason. In the report that came out under her authority, Pillay reiterated Goldstone's claims, according to which Israel committed war crimes.

Another argument raised by one of the students was that in the time since the UN Human Rights Council was established in 2006, of the 33 times they have issued criticisms of a country--27 of those those times the criticisms were directed against Israel.

"Just as the university would not allow a Holocaust denier a forum in which to speak, so there is no place to provide a stage for an anti-Semitic figure like her" they explained--and added: "We see her invitation to the university as spitting in the faces of the IDF soldiers, a debasement of the State of Israel, a mockery of Zionism and a severe ridicule of students and staff ".

Pillay will have plenty of forums to speak--Bar Ilan University had no obligation to provide her with another one.

Technorati Tag: Navi Pillay.