zionist israel to join UNHRC despite violations of Palestinians’ rights

zionist israel is set to join the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) as a member of its European bloc despite Tel Aviv’s gross violations of Palestinians’ rights.

On Sunday, an unknown Israeli source confirmed Tel Aviv’s membership in the UNHRC, saying a formal invitation was expected soon.

This comes three days after the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon described Tel Aviv’s illegal settlement activities as “a cause for grave concern.”

Since March 2012, the Israeli regime has boycotted the UNHRC sessions. Tel Aviv cut ties with the body in protest at a decision to probe Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East al-Quds (Jerusalem).

On Friday, a report said the Israeli regime has increased illegal settlement construction by 130 percent so far this year in comparison to last year.

“At least 32,000 settler units have been built since the beginning of 2013, with seven percent of them built in the Jerusalem (al-Quds) settlements,” the Middle East Monitor publication quoted Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics as saying.

According to the report, Israeli Minister of Housing Uri Ariel has said that the illegal construction “will continue to rise at a rapid pace,” adding that the majority of ministers in the cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu support it.

More than half a million Israelis live in over 120 illegal settlements built since Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East al-Quds in 1967.

The United Nations and most countries regard the Israeli settlements as illegal because the territories were captured by Israel in a war in 1967 and are thus subject to the Geneva Conventions, which forbid construction on occupied lands.