Last month, an independent UN Commission of Inquiry presented its findings on the situation in Palestine and Israel since 7 October during the 56th session of the Human Rights Council.
I was invited to comment on the commission’s reports during a side event at the Human Rights Council, during which I laid out how the commission fell short of meeting its obligation of truth-telling: The commission published two separate reports: a 59-page report on events in Israel on 7 October and a 126-page report on the assault on Gaza beginning 7 October through the end of December.
The deficiencies of the reports, which narrate some of the major events and provide legal analysis, include the absence of the term “genocide” to describe the ongoing onslaught in Gaza; a lack of discussion of the role of incitement to genocide by third states and international media; a forced two-sided balancing narrative; good-faith engagement with Israel’s bad-faith human shielding argument; the absence of tangible recommendations for third states and corporations; an uncritical reliance on Israeli sources while ignoring the work of Arab and independent media.
These faults are just the tip of the iceberg…..more
