Purportedly created in the wake of Israel’s self-defensive campaign against Hamas, which fired approximately 4,500 rockets at Israeli civilians in May 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC resolution established a commission whose findings are expected to be released in June. The commission did not even mention Hamas, an internationally recognized Palestinian terror group, or Israel’s right to self-defense.
In a report released this week the International Legal Forum (ILF) called the ongoing and open-ended Navi Pillay-led UN Commission of Inquiry accusing Israel of war crimes and apartheid, as “a singularly unprecedented all-out assault against the Jewish state, completely lacking in impartiality or any legal basis.”
Purportedly created in the wake of Israel’s self-defensive campaign against Hamas, which fired approximately 4,500 rockets at Israeli civilians in May 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC resolution established a commission whose findings are expected to be released in June. The commission did not even mention Hamas, an internationally recognized Palestinian terror group, or Israel’s right to self-defense.
The International Legal Forum, which is an independent Israel-based global network of over 4,000 lawyers and activists around the world, wrote a major report together with a global coalition of over 25 organizations, including many from Europe.
According to the ILF, the Commission of Inquiry ‘’will unjustly single out the Jewish state for condemnation, whilst giving a free pass to Palestinian terror groups, which just launched a fresh wave of violence, killing at least 18 Israelis since March this year. Moreover, the Commission will have an absurd open-ended carte blanche to investigate Israel in perpetuity, including before even its establishment in 1948.’’
A large number of bi-partisan Members of the U.S. Congress have already written to Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, expressing grave concerns about the bias of the Commission and it’s discriminatory singling out of Israel.
ILF Chair and CEO, Arsen Ostrovsky: “This Commission makes a complete mockery of international law and is tantamount to an all-out assault against the Jewish state. It only underscores the UNHRC’s persistent, systematic and relentless bias against the State of Israel, which is consistently denied equality before the UN body and pronounced guilty from the outset. When it comes to the UNHRC, Israel does not even stand a chance.”
In particular, the signatories of the report, expressed “deep concern” by the UNHRC’s appointment of Navi Pillay to Chair this Commission, given her “long-standing bias and hostility towards Israel”, having already outrageously referred to Israel as an “apartheid regime” and accused the Jewish state of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity.”
They noted that Pillay has also openly championed boycotts against Israel and had ties with organizations and individuals affiliated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), which is designated as a terror group by the US, EU, Canada, Israel and others.
Dore Gold, former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, who authored the preface to the ILF report, noted that, with the appointment of Navi Pillay it “would become yet another [UN] entity based on foul play and not on strict international legality with some modicum of fairness.”
The signatories to the report conclude: “All those who truly care about the rule of law, justice and advancing peace in the Middle East, should call out this Commission over its inherent bias and refuse to afford it any kind of legitimacy or credence.”