UN Begins Hearings on Alleged Israeli Human Rights Abuses
Facts
- A UN independent commission of inquiry (COI) on Monday began five days of public hearings in Geneva regarding alleged human rights violations against Palestinians. Day one concentrated on Israel's banning of multiple Palestinian rights organizations in 2021.
- The commission, established by the Human Rights Council, says it will be impartial and will examine allegations from both Israelis and Palestinians, though Israel dismissed the process as a sham trial. The US has also accused the UN of having a "chronic bias" against Israel.
- Three of the six Palestinian NGOs that Israel had deemed terrorist organizations testified on Monday. One of them, Al Haq, claims to simply be a defender of human rights, with its general director, Shawan Jabarin, accusing Israel of conducting a smear campaign to silence it.
- The hearing will also focus on the shooting of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May, with the UN saying it found her to likely have been deliberately killed by Israeli forces, while Israel maintains that she was likely shot accidentally.
- The three-member commission was founded after the 11-day Gaza conflict in May 2021, in which 250 Palestinians and 13 people in Israel were killed. It also seeks to uncover the root causes of the conflict.
- Neither the hearings nor the Council has legal enforcement powers, though such investigations are occasionally used for evidence in national and international courts.
Sources: Al Jazeera, Reuters, Voa, Wio, and Todayonline.
Narratives
- Pro-Palestine, as provided by Al Mayadeen. While the Israeli occupiers have and will continue to label these hearings as a "sham," history and the UN's past investigations highlight Israel's long record of killing and criminalizing Palestinians. Israel's opposition to such hearings is also absurd given that the commission has no power to punish it for its crimes against Palestinians.
- Pro-Israel, as provided by JPost. Israel appears in UN condemnation reports exponentially more often than the words Palestine, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Iran combined. Despite the reality that those groups continue their terror campaigns against Israel and the free world, the UN has decided to waste time and resources to hold another kangaroo court.