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You will not go wrong calling the UN Human Rights Council the Israel Condemnation Council.

The council, which is supposed to investigate worldwide human rights violations, has its own rapporteur for Israel and at its annual meetings its own agenda item for the ritual condemnation of the Jewish state - item 7. No other state on earth enjoys such dubious privileges: not China, not Russia, not North Korea, not Iran.

Since 2016 alone, Israel has been convicted 90 times in the Human Rights Council: more than Syria, North Korea, Iran, Yemen and Venezuela put together.

This year it was a little different.

Israel was convicted of human rights violations.

They called for an arms embargo against Israel.

Wait a minute: Isn't that the usual?

No!

Because the application - brought in by the Palestinian Self-Government (PA), a corrupt oligarchy that has not allowed elections since 2006 for fear of its own people - was not brought in under point 7 as usual, but under point 2!

Austria's UN ambassador thanked the PA “for their commitment” and “welcomed” their decision to “take our basic position on agenda item 7 into account”.

Great.

After all, Austria still rejected the resolution, along with Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Malawi and Togo.

Great Britain, India, the Marshall Islands, Nepal, the Philippines, the Czech Republic and the Ukraine abstained.

The Bahraini ambassador did not even appear to vote.

The remaining 33 members voted for condemnation and an arms embargo.

Including the EU countries Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland - and Germany.

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What Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has ridden remains his secret.

Sometimes the officials of the Foreign Office assure during talks with Israeli diplomats that they would have to raise their hands against Israel in the interests of a uniform EU foreign policy, but they did not mean it.

But if Austria and Bulgaria vote against it, and the Czech Republic can abstain, why does Germany vote with the anti-Israel hardliners?

Why is it not possible to develop a uniform EU line, if only it were abstention?

This is a debacle for German diplomacy.

Maas proves once again its serious lack of principles.