ADL Blasts Appointment Of Desmond Tutu As Head Of U.N. Fact Finding Mission
To Gaza
www.adl.org/PresRele/UnitedNations_94/4933_94.htm

New York, NY, November 29, 2006 . The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today
criticized the appointment of Desmond Tutu as head of the Beit Hanoun
fact-finding mission created by the United Nations Human Rights Council,
describing it as "an extension of the anti-Israel kangaroo court tactics."

A resolution passed by the U.N. Human Rights Council calls for a mission to
"assess the situation of victims, address the needs of survivors, and make
recommendations on ways and means to protect Palestinian civilians against
further Israeli assaults." The resolution, like many others put forward by
the Human Rights Council, did not address the continuing barrage of Kassam
rockets fired into Israel by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, killing and
maiming Israeli citizens.

"The appointment of Desmond Tutu as head of the fact-finding mission to Beit
Hanoun is an extension of the anti-Israel kangaroo court tactics used by the
U.N. Human Rights Council," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.
"No fact-finding mission can produce balanced and trustworthy results if its
leader professes to know all the answers beforehand. Tutu has already
publicly expressed his anti-Israel views and his opinions regarding what
happened in Beit Hanoun, and combined with the one-sided anti-Israel mandate
provided by the resolution, the results of the mission are all-but
preordained."

Tutu, the former Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, has been an outspoken
critic of Israel and has publicly stated his personal views about Beit
Hanoun, calling it an "outrage that cries out to heaven" and one that "we
must condemn." In the past, Tutu has condemned the "Jewish lobby" in the
United States, calling it "very powerful."

The Israeli government has acknowledged that the tragic deaths in Beit
Hanoun were the result of a mistake and has expressed its condolences.
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