Clooney fiancée Alamuddin turns down UN Gaza probe appointment

A number of Hollywood gossip websites report that Amal Alamuddin, the British human rights lawyer better known (for better or worse) as actor George Clooney’s fiancée, has turned down her appointment to serve on the UN Human Rights Council probe into the Gaza conflict.

Alamuddin has released a statement saying that she is too busy with eight other cases and cannot take on the UN position.

“I wish my colleagues who will serve on the commission courage and strength in their endeavours,” she writes.

Those in the pro-Israel camp — Jerusalem already slammed the panel as a kangaroo commission — shouldn’t think the Lebanese-born lawyer has joined their side, though.

“I am horrified by the situation in the occupied Gaza Strip, particularly the civilian causalities that have been caused, and strongly believe that there should be an independent investigation and accountability for crimes that have been committed,” she writes.

Earlier in the night, UN Watch, a watchdog organization, released a statement suggesting that she may have been added to the panel for the publicity she would bring.