Israel accuses UN of “propaganda” in a report on the West Bank

O Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs today described the report of a UN commission of inquiry accusing the country of crimes against humanity in the occupied West Bank as “propaganda”.

This report “is not a report on human rights, but rather a propaganda document disconnected from reality, which aims to undermine Israel’s right to defend itself, delegitimize the Jewish state and legitimize jihadist terrorism against its citizens,” Israeli diplomacy said in a statement.

The UN Independent Commission investigating crimes in occupied Palestinian territories today accused Israel of committing crimes against humanity in the West Bank, including “extermination”, while maintaining its accusations of genocide in Gaza.

In a report to be submitted today to the UN General Assembly, the committee “concluded that Israeli authorities and forces committed crimes against humanity in the West Bank, including extermination, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, as well as persecution, on the basis of overlapping discriminatory grounds, with nationality, race and ethnicity as its core”.

The positions of independent commissions set up by UN bodies do not reflect those of the organisation itself, being temporary and related to a specific issue.

Commissions Independent of the UN are created by a UN body, usually the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Human Rights Council or, in some cases, the Secretary-General himself. The setting-up body shall define the mandate, scope and time limit of the committee.

Members act on a personal basis, not as representatives of their governments. They are generally chosen by their technical competence — for example, lawyers, former judges or human rights experts.

In the case of the commission on the Palestinian territories, the investigators, who were charged with examining the murders and physical and psychological damage caused by state agents, point to a serious increase in Israeli air strikes against the West Bank since October 7, 2023, the date of the Islamist Hamas group’s attack on Israel that started the war.

With regard to the crimes imputed to Israel, the committee notes that, while between 2018 and October 6, 2023 (the day before the Hamas attack) six Palestinians died in air strikes, between October 7, 2023 and September 30 this year, the number rose to 254.

The committee also denounces the Palestinian Authority for the persecution of Palestinians with divergent opinions and for the failure to investigate effectively and impartially the deaths or injuries suffered by journalists and human rights defenders in actions carried out by Palestinian security forces.