As expected, the resolution adopted by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on July 3, condemning Israel based on the report of the UN panel probing Operation Protective Edge in the Gaza Strip, provoked scanting criticism on Jerusalem's part. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was quick to condemn the condemners, stating that Israel not only assiduously upholds the equal rights of all its citizens, but also “acts in accordance with international law.” Once again claims were heard that the UNHRC picks on Israel, which adheres strictly to its “purity of arms” military ethical doctrine, while ignoring far worse crimes against humanity committed by other states.

Netanyahu ignored the fact that three days before the UNHRC’s decision, the Associated Press reported on a harsh UN report about war crimes being committed in South Sudan. Survivors of the attacks by the military there recounted that South Sudanese soldiers and their allies killed civilians, burned down and destroyed villages and forced some 100,000 people to flee their homes. Some reported kidnappings and sexual abuse of women and girls, a few of whom were burned alive in their homes.

In April 2014, the United States froze military aid to South Sudan, and President Barack Obama signed an executive order imposing sanctions and freezing assets of those involved in fighting and war crimes there. At the end of the year, the European Union decided to impose an arms embargo on the African state, which was founded in 2011. Meanwhile, in June, an official delegation from South Sudan attended ISDEF, the Israeli weapons expo, unencumbered.

In a letter to Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon, Knesset member Tamar Zandberg of the Meretz Party described close ties between Israeli arms dealers and the regime in Juba. She said that Israelis involved in defense dealings were a common site in South Sudan. Referring to a detailed report prepared by attorney Itai Mack, who has for years been following Israeli weapons exports, Zandberg added that Israel trained Sudanese soldiers in South Sudan and in Israel, and that arms dealers, officials of the defense industries and Israeli trainers were spotted on flights to Juba.