UN: "When Palestinian men beat their wives, it's Israel's fault

(CNSNews.com) – An NGO representative at the U.N. Human Rights Council suggested Monday that incitement by Islamic preachers may bear a greater responsibility for Palestinian violence against women than Israeli occupation, to the evident displeasure of the session’s Egyptian chairman.



Skipping the standard protocol of thanking each speaker before moving onto the next one, Amr Ramadan told U.N. Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer, “I would like to say thank you, but I can’t – because I think that you need to respect this council more in the next days.”



Egypt’s mission to the U.N. in Geneva did not respond to queries by press time about the reason for Ramadan’s indignation.



It came after U.N. Watch challenged a report by a U.N. expert on violence against women, Dubravka Simonovic, which recurrently implied links between the Israeli occupation of disputed territories and the way Palestinian men treat women.



Noting that Simonovic’s report referred to a “clear linkage between the prolonged [Israeli] occupation and violence against [Palestinian] women,” Neuer asked her where the data was to back up the claim, as it did not appear in the report, he said.



He said she was essentially saying that, “When Palestinian men beat their wives, it’s Israel’s fault.”



“Is it right to continue infantilizing Palestinians, such that when a man in Ramallah beats his wife, we encourage him to say ‘Israel made me do it’?”