Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has asked Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, to “muster the courage” to answer what he calls a “simple question.”
“I write regarding your shocking failure to condemn the terrorists of Hamas,” Cotton stated in a Sept. 10 letter. “While you preen as the moral voice of the world, you’ve refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization and repeatedly drawn a false equivalence between Hamas and Israel.”
Urging Türk and others at the United Nations to label Hamas as terrorists, Cotton pointed to the fact that the United States, United Kingdom, Israel, Australia, Japan and the European Union have done so.
He suggested to Türk that “moral blindness unfortunately seems to be your modus operandi.”
The senator pointed to the High Commissioner’s statement following the recent discovery of six hostages murdered in the Gaza Strip by Hamas. “Although you professed that you were ‘horrified’ by the executions, you failed even to mention Hamas as the murderer and called for an ‘independent’ investigation into the killing,” he wrote. “Hamas had already admitted to these barbaric murders, so I’m not sure what such an investigation would prove.”
Cotton said Türk could address his objections “with very little effort by simply joining the rest of the civilized world. Could you please answer this simple question: Is Hamas a terrorist organization?”
He requested a response by Sept. 17, noting he would “happily accept a letter that says nothing more than ‘Hamas is a terrorist organization’ between the salutation and the signature line.”
