UN investigator has Jewish roots

William A. Schabas, the chair of the UN Human Rights Council investigation into the Gaza operation, has Jewish roots.

His father Ezra Schabas, 90, is a well-known Canadian-Jewish musician, Israeli analyst Ronen Solomon reports after probing into the Schabas family history. Born in New York in 1924, the elder Schabas was the director of Canada’s Royal Conservatory of Music, one of country’s most prestigious musical institutions. In 2000, he became a Member of the Order of Canada for being a “major influence on music in Canada.”

On April 14, one day after his 90th birthday, his son William posted a congratulatory message on his Facebook page. “Mazel tov, Dad. Many more happy and fulfilling years,” wrote Schabas junior.

William Schabas’s mother, Ann Schabas, is Catholic, Solomon notes. While not Jewish according to traditional Jewish law, Schabas would qualify for Israeli citizenship.

Officials in Israel have criticized William Schabas’s appointment to lead the UN investigation into Operation Protective Edge because of his alleged anti-Israel bias. Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, called it “an utter farce,” saying that the only inquiry needed should look into “how a vehemently anti-Israel chair was selected to lead a UN commission investigating Israel.”

Schabas senior also appears to be critical of Israel, Solomon notes. In a letter he sent to the editor of The Toronto Star in December 2009, Ezra Schabas denounced the Canadian media for failing to stress the “long-standing grievances of Palestinians – the 1948 land seizures, the war of 1967, the Israeli settlements, and reducing the West Bank and Gaza, at best, to colonial status.” In the letter, he also denounced “Jews and non-Jews who believe that one way or another criticizing Israel has anti-Semitism at its roots.”

— Raphael Ahren