India has thrown out a letter by the Palestinian Authority which criticized New Delhi’s refusal to join a flurry of other nations at the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) to condemn Israeli atrocities in Gaza.
Spurred by the latest flare-upbetween Israel and Palestinian militias, the United Nations’ top human rights body voted in late May to appoint a commission of inquiry with unusually broad latitude to investigate possible war crimes and other abuses committed by both sides.
The resolution was supported by 24 members of the HRC while 9 members voted against it and 14, including India, abstained.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad Malki wrote a strong letter to External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, observing that India’s action “stifled” human rights of “all people.”
“Palestine has written similar letters to all the countries that abstained during the UN Human Rights Council vote,” Arindam Bagchi, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman, said Friday. “The position that we took is not a new position.”
India had similarly abstained in 2015 at the HRC when a resolution sought to refer Israel to the International Criminal Court. Palestinian officials also protested that move only to hear India double down on its refusal to go after Israel.
New Delhi and Tel Aviv have over the recent years expanded their ties.
