Free Republic

GOTEBORG, Sweden (AP) -- A world congress of newspapers condemned the U.N. Human Rights Council on Tuesday, saying it has repeatedly sought to undermine freedom of the press to protect religious sensibilities. The council's "proper role is to defend freedom of expression and not to support the censorship of opinion at the request of autocracies," said a resolution adopted by the World Association of Newspapers and World Editors Forum. The U.N. General Assembly formed the Geneva-based Human Rights Council in March 2006 to succeed the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which was sometimes criticized for too heavily considering the views...

GENEVA, Switzerland (AP) -- The U.N. Human Rights Council has condemned Israel's offensive in Gaza and called on Palestinians to stop rocket fire into Israel. The resolution passed Thursday said Israeli incursions into the Palestinian territory inflicted collective punishment on the civilian population. Israel launched the offensive last week in response to Palestinian militants barraging southern Israel with rockets.

As usual, the report on the territories commissioned by the UN Commission on Human Rights and presented in Geneva this week slammed Israel for alleged human rights violations, while nary wagging a finger at the Palestinians However, there was a slight change in the tone of the report this year, Israeli diplomatic officials noted, saying that while this was not anything to cheer about, it was worth a passing mention. For instance, the author of the report, South African jurist John Dugard, issued rare praise for what he characterized Israel's "brave move" to quit Gaza. In the commission's "Special Rapporteur...