Israel has sharply criticised the UN Human Rights Council’s new three-person panel tasked with investigating possible war crimes committed during Operation Protective Edge.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the commission, chaired by Canadian international law expert William Schabas, is biased and made up of individuals with strong anti-Israel views.

“The Human Rights Council long ago became the Terrorists Rights Council and a kangaroo court, said the ministry in a statement. “The findings of its ‘investigations’ are predetermined.

“If further proof is needed, the appointment of the chairman of the committee, whose opinions and positions against Israel are well known, proves beyond any doubt that Israel cannot expect justice from such a body.”

Professor Schabas previously called for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former president Shimon Peres to be tried for war crimes at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

So far the other member named to the commission is Doudou Dienne of Senegal. George Clooney’s fiancée, British-Lebanese lawyer Amal Alamuddin, was also supposed to sit on the panel but declined the role due to her existing caseload.