UN rights chief: Next Israeli government must ‘change course massively,’ stop acting ‘above international law’

UN rights chief Volker Turk says he hopes a new Israeli government will “change course massively” and respect international law, as the country’s political future hangs in the balance after inconclusive elections.

“The message is: Don’t continue the current course of warfare where you think you are above international law, because I think that’s what we have frankly seen in the current environment,” he tells reporters in New York.

“Israel has its obligations under international law, international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and they need to respect them, and I hope that the next government will do precisely that and change course massively,” the Austrian diplomat adds.

Earlier this week, Turk warned that Israel’s military operation in the West Bank city of Hebron, launched after Palestinian gunmen killed two soldiers, raised serious concerns of “ethnic cleansing.”

“Collective punishment is a grave violation of international law,” he said in a statement Monday.