Following 'Malicious Attacks' from Israel, Head of UN War Crimes Probe Steps Down

William Schabas, the head of a United Nations war crimes inquiry into Israel’s 50-day military assault on Gaza last summer, announced his resignation on Monday, citing mounting and “malicious” attacks from Israel, which has vigorously opposed the probe.

Analysts say that Schabas’ premature departure, which comes just a month before the commission’s findings are slated for public release, fits into a larger pattern.

“This is consistent with an Israeli strategy of deflecting attention away from their violations of international law and UN resolutions by focusing on those who expose those violations,” Phyllis Bennis, senior fellow at Institute for Policy Studies, told Common Dreams. “They focus on the messenger hoping the world will ignore the message.”

Schabas, a scholar and international law expert based in Canada, was appointed in August by the head of the UN Human Rights Council to chair the inquiry, which was mandated to investigate “all violations of international humanitarian law.”

From the outset, the United States and Israel have objected to the investigation, and the latter even prohibited the UN team from entering Israel, thereby forcing researchers to correspond with Palestinian witnesses using electronic communications from Jordan.

Israel’s opposition comes despite the fact that the inquiry is examining all violations against civilians, by Israeli as well as Palestinian forces.

Since heading the panel, Schabas has been the subject of fierce criticism from the Israeli government and its advocates, including the Geneva-based organization UN Watch. The publication Mondoweiss raised concerns as early as August 15 that the scholar was being subject to unfair treatment, including in major media outlets.

A recent complaint by Israel’s UN ambassador Eviatar Manor, in which he cited Schabas’ one-time consulting job for the PLO in October 2012 as a “conflict of interest,” is being widely cited in media reports about the latter’s move to step down.

In his resignation letter, which was obtained by Reuters, Schabas argued that this consulting was no different from other legal opinions he’s given to organizations and governments across the world, noting that his curriculum vitae and blog are entirely available to the public.