Submission to UNHRC 56th Session: Grave Concerns Regarding the Commission of Inquiry

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On October 7, 2023, thousands of Palestinian terrorists poured across the border from Gaza into Israel, slaughtering 1200 people, torturing and maiming thousands, including 36 children who were slaughtered in their homes. Hamas, and other terrorist groups, also kidnapped more than 200 individuals, including women and children. In parallel, thousands of rockets were fired at Israeli population centers, sending millions rushing to shelters.

Every one of these attacks constitutes a blatant violation of international humanitarian and human rights laws, which should have brought immediate condemnation from the human rights community. Instead, UN Special Experts and NGOs that routinely and forcefully condemn Israel blamed the victims, whitewashed the terrorists, and exploited the attacks to repeat the campaign accusing Israel of “apartheid” and other lies. 

COI’s Attack on Civil Society

We must first address that as in previous sessions, the COI did not submit its report to the Human Rights Council in a timely fashion to allow for civil society to respond in accordance with the deadline for NGO written submissions to the Human Rights Council. By not allowing ample time for civil society to analyze and comment on its report, COI has blocked civil society’s ability to engage meaningfully with the Human Rights Council and its representatives. Additionally, the June Human Rights Council session consists only of interactive dialogues where NGO speaking slots are severely limited, and therefore, written submissions are the only opportunity for NGOs to interact with various UN representatives. Without being presented the report, the COI has effectively silenced civil society.

Grave Concerns of the UN Commission of Inquiry’s Ability to Conduct a Fair Investigation 

Following the barbaric massacre, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC’s) permanent “Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and in Israel” (COI) announced that it had “begun collecting evidence of war crimes committed by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups and by Israeli security forces.”

NGO Monitor has grave concerns in the COI’s ability to conduct a fair investigation. Since its founding, the COI has placed sole blame for the conflict on Israel and erases genocidal antisemitism of Palestinian actors as a driving force of violence. In addition, the COI itself has repeatedly engaged in antisemitism.

The Commission has consistently minimized and negated Israel’s right to self-defense against Palestinian terrorism, implying that terrorism is not a valid justification for Israel’s security concerns claiming that the term “is not clearly defined under international law.” It has whitewashed terrorists as “human rights defenders”, abusing this framework. The COI’s last report (October 2023) also placed scare quotation marks around the word terrorism, terrorist, and terror every time it appeared in the report, in order to belittle the term and discount Israel’s legitimate security measures. It similarly ignores the role of Iran and the on-going and serious security threats posed by Iranian proxies, Hezbollah, the Houthis, and of course, Hamas. We have serious doubts the COI will take any serious inquiry into deliberate military attacks on Israeli civilians emanating from Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Iran – attacks which are  a main driver of conflict in the region.  Similarly, the COI has ignored the role of Egypt and Qatar in sheltering Hamas war criminals, allowing Hamas leaders to steal billions in humanitarian aid, and smuggle weapons into Gaza.

The COI itself also must be held accountable for its role in inflaming the conflict. By denying Israel’s right to self-defense against terrorism, and denying the existence of Palestinian terrorism, the Commission ultimately emboldens and encourages terrorist organizations and violent acts against Israel, such as what occurred on October 7. 

Palestinian Statistics

NGO Monitor is also concerned about the COI’s potential reliance on data from the Gaza Ministry of Health and other terrorist organizations. These casualty statistics come from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health as well as several NGOs that are linked to the PFLP terrorist organization. As a result, the number of injured, the nature of their wounds, and the circumstances of their being wounded – are easily manipulated. Yet, this lack of credibility does not seem to prevent diplomats, UN officials, or human rights groups from repeating the unsubstantiated claims.

The IDF, as well as NGOs such as the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, NGO Monitor, and others, have independently demonstrated that many of the supposed civilians killed throughout the conflict were, in fact, combatants or civilians directly participating in hostilities. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, we continue to note that the COI is incapable of carrying out its mandate in accordance with UN rules and procedures. It refuses to act with transparency. And it continues to promote discrimination.