Israel has rejected UN General Assembly's endorsement of the UN Fact Finding Mission's report on the Gaza Conflict, which requires it to investigate war crimes committed by Israeli forces during the December-January military offensive in Gaza.
Thursday, 114 members of the 192-member world body approved an Arab-drafted resolution calling on Israel and the Palestinians to conduct "credible" investigations into alleged war crimes committed by both sides during the fighting in Gaza. It raised the possibility of Security Council action if Israel and Hamas failed to carry out their own internal investigations into the allegations within three months.
Eighteen countries opposed the resolution, 44 abstained and 16 countries did not vote.
In a statement issued Friday, Israeli foreign ministry called the UN endorsement "completely detached from realities on the ground."
It also said the 18 votes against the resolution, including the US, and the 44 abstentions, including many European countries, showed that it lacked the support of the world's "moral majority."
Israel claimed that during the fighting, its army "demonstrated higher military and moral standards than each and every one of this resolution's instigators."
Earlier, the US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to condemn the report, which was compiled by a team of UN investigators headed by South African Judge Richard Goldstone. A non-binding resolution approved by the House described it as "irredeemably biased."
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