Australia has voted against the UN Human Rights Commission holding a meeting to vote on a resolution condemning Israel for the killing of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin. Shame, Shame, Shame!Pakistan was backed by 34 of the commission's 53 members to vote in favour of the meeting later today.
The United States and Eritrea also opposed the meeting while 14 countries, including France, Germany, Italy and Britain, abstained.
Countries will be asked to vote on a resolution that "strongly condemns the continuing grave violations of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory in particular the tragic assassination of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin".
Israeli ambassador Yaakov Levy protested it would be the first time the UN had met "to glorify the leader of a terrorist organisation".
Yassin was killed in an Israeli air raid on Monday morning.
The resolution also "notes with grave concern the implications of such targeted assassinations, liquidation and murder of political leadership by the Israeli occupation forces on the overall situation in Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly the possibility of fresh wave of violence".
By No War 24 March 04
THE DOG: Australia the lucky country? Lucky if you're worth something!
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