THE HAGUE - The Netherlands will not condemn Israel for breaking ties with the UN Human Rights Council, the Dutch minister for European Affairs and International Cooperation said on Wednesday.

The Dutch cabinet intends to wait for the Israeli government’s official statement on the issue due sometime next week, Minister Ben Knapen said in replying to a parliamentary query.

Knapen went on to criticize the council’s proposed fact-finding mission on settlements. “In comparison with other such missions, we think the mission to Israel was disproportionate,” he added.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman announced Israel would no longer cooperate with the UN Human Rights Council on Monday, after the council passed a resolution to launch a probe into how Israel´s West Bank settlements may be infringing on Palestinians´ rights.

Knapem was asked whether the cabinet intended to criticize Israel together with other EU countries, in a query by Frans Timmermans, an MP for the Dutch Labor.

In his reply, Knapen said the council singled Israel out for criticism. During the last six years, the council saw the passing of 43 resolutions against Israel compared to five against Syria.

The Dutch daily Reformatorisch Dagblad reported Raymond De Roon of the Party for Freedom and Joel Voordewind of the ChristenUnie party inquired whether the Netherlands might itself leave the Council.

Knapen replied that a number of other UN organizations also needed a few decades to define where their authority lay. “In that respect I feel we should not be discouraged.” (© 1995-2011, The Jerusalem Post 03/29/12)