The commission of inquiry on behalf of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which was appointed after the Gaza operation of 2021, did not refer to the military confrontation they were appointed to investigate. Instead, the rather small yet concise report seemed to express levels of anti-Zionist sentiment and bias all too commonly seen by the already questionable organization that has boasted members from known violators of Human Rights like Venezuala, China, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
The committee, led by former Human Rights Council Commissioner Navi Pillay, called on the UN General Assembly to "request an urgent advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice, regarding the legal consequences of Israel's continued refusal to end the occupation." In addition, the committee noted that Israel's actions "may be considered a war crime under international law." The assembly will further discuss the report in the coming weeks.
Thank you @RepSchneider for your outspoken leadership and moral clarity!
ā AIPAC (@AIPAC) October 21, 2022
The UNHRC's anti-Israel Commission of Inquiry is part of the campaign to delegitimize the world's only Jewish state. https://t.co/1MELWfMMEw
Israel did not hold back in their criticism of the report from the committee and its findings, among other things on one of the members of the committee, Milon Kothari for instance. Kothari recently apologized in a letter to the president of the Human Rights Council for using the term "Jewish lobbyists".
"Those with such opinions have no legitimacy to deal with the issue," the Israeli delegation to the UN said. "They are part of the anti-Israel agenda that unfortunately still exists in the UN."
What the #UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) focuses its investigations on: #Israel.
ā StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) October 19, 2022
What the #UNHRC ignores: Countless human rights violations around the world.
How is this acceptable?
Please read this piece by StandWithUs CEO, @RozRothstein: https://t.co/MW2zisDdMq pic.twitter.com/iBpLl0DgMw
In the Biden Administration, State Department spokesman Ned Price did not comment on the report's findings but reiterated Washington's position regarding American concerns about the Commission of Inquiry and the UN Human Rights Council: "Consistently, the treatment of Israel in the UN is unfair, including in this Commission of Inquiry. No country should be immune from scrutiny, but no country should be treated unfairly."
In the 28-page report, Israel is mentioned 277 times, while the globally recognized terrorist organization Hamas which began the conflict by firing rockets at Israeli civilian communities and cities is not even mentioned once. The report states that the committee "reached the conclusion that by continuing to occupy the territory by force, Israel assumes international responsibility and bears responsibility for the violations of the rights of the Palestinians as individuals and as a people." The report did not state the fact that since its unilateral withdrawal in 2005, Israel has not had any forces or control in the Gaza strip.
The UNHRC's Commission of Inquiry on Israel gives its first report to the General Assembly next week. Navi Pillay, chair of the inquiry, has a record of openly lobbying countries to boycott Israel; her fellow member, Miloon Kothari, was condemned worldwide for his antisemitism. https://t.co/Na1uJG4lFc
ā Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 19, 2022
The report continued, "by establishing or assisting in the establishment of settlements while ignoring the provisions of international law, and by directly or indirectly transferring Israeli citizens to them, Successive Israeli governments have established facts on the ground to ensure permanent Israeli control over the West Bank." Again, the report neglects the fact that since the Jordanian withdrawal in 1967 and the subsequent 1988 relinquishment of claim to Judea & Samaria, Israel has had a legal right under international precedence to claim and administer the land. However, Israel was the only entity in history to give a Palestinian-Arab entity autonomy, and much of Judea & Samaria is controlled by the governing Palestinian Authority.
The UNHRC COI's second report is rife with more anti-Israel bias. This one sided report fails to credibly engage with the security challenges in Israel and further discredits the COI. I will continue to work to end the COI and Agenda Item VII. https://t.co/G90OEUCnws
ā Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (@gillibrandny) October 21, 2022
The report then goes on to incorrectly conclude that: "some of the policies and actions of the governments of Israel, leading to permanent occupation and actual annexation, may constitute elements of crimes under international criminal law, including the war crime of transferring parts of its civilian population directly or indirectly to occupied territory, and the crime against humanity of Deportation or forced transfer." The problem with having an international body declaring falsehoods about international law is that few media outlets dispute the claim, or look into what precedent was in other conflicts. An example of such is the Italian region of South Tyrol, which is in actuality a German-speaking Austrian province annexed by Italy in 1919 and recognized internationally as an Italian region.
