The United Nations has yet again singled out the democratic Jewish State of Israel for condemnation over alleged human rights abuses while letting UN member states with atrocious human rights records off the hook. On July 22, 2022, the UN’s 54-nation Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the three principal bodies of the United Nations, passed a resolution accusing only Israel of violating the human rights of women and girls. The resolution, adopted by a vote of 40 to 6 with 4 abstentions, might as well have been drafted by Palestinian propagandists.
Cowardly Western European countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Italy, and Portugal, disgraced themselves by voting for this despicable resolution. Only the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, and Liberia showed some moral courage and joined Israel in voting no.
Gross violations of Palestinian females’ rights by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza
Putting aside the gross violations of Palestinian females’ rights by the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza themselves, ECOSOC did not see fit to pass any other resolutions singling out any other countries for their harsh treatment of women and girls - for example, the repressive Iranian regime. ECOSOC also had nothing to say about the horrific treatment of women and girls today in Afghanistan, which has been under the total de facto control of the Taliban since last August following the Biden administration’s reckless retreat. Women and girls in Afghanistan are being deprived of basic human rights to education, work, and free movement. Some are detained for minor infractions of discriminatory rules. Some are subjected to forced marriages.
Twenty-two years ago, in July 2000, ECOSOC did find its voice in condemning the grave violations of the human rights of women and girls in all areas of Afghanistan, particularly in areas then under the control of the Taliban. Today, all that we hear from ECOSOC about the Taliban's human rights abuses against women and girls are crickets.
All that the Economic and Social Council had to do was to reintroduce an updated version of its July 2000 resolution in July 2022. ECOSOC could have noted that, twenty-two years later, the Taliban, which now has total de facto control of Afghanistan, is still depriving women and girls of the most basic human right to live safe, free, and dignified lives. But ECOSOC turned its back on their suffering, deciding instead to reinforce the Palestinians’ false victimhood narrative of supposedly untold suffering at the hands of the "oppressive occupying power,” Israel.
Even the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), which is one of the most strident anti-Israel organizations in the UN system, passed a resolution on July 8, 2022, condemning human rights violations against women and girls in Afghanistan. The Human Rights Council resolution recommended a few measures that Afghanistan’s de facto authorities could take to improve the treatment of women and girls. It also called upon the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to organize an “enhanced interactive dialogue” on the human rights situation in Afghanistan. Not much but, unlike ECOSOC, the Human Rights Council at least acknowledged the situation.
Nevertheless, the Human Rights Council’s light touch when it came to Afghanistan is in sharp contrast to how this dysfunctional travesty of an organization regularly treats Israel. The Council has singled out Israel – and only Israel – for condemnation at specially scheduled meetings and for special “investigations” into Israel’s alleged human rights abuses against the Palestinian people.
Late last month, one member of an investigatory commission established in 2021 by the Human Rights Council - Miloon Kothari - made a series of on-the-record statements against Israel that should shock the conscience of every decent human being. However, those on the Human Rights Council who dare to judge Israel harshly – including representatives from some of the worst human rights-abusing countries in the world such as Russia and China – have no conscience and have no shame.
The three-member “Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel” (COI) presented its preliminary report to the Human Rights Council on June 7th. Note the reference to “Israel,” separate and apart from the reference to “Occupied Territory,” in the Commission’s title. The preliminary report was, needless to say, a one-sided diatribe accusing Israel of all manner of human rights violations with just a glancing mention of indiscriminate rocket attacks launched by “Palestinian armed groups” towards Israeli cities and towns where civilians live.
Miloon Kothari, who is described as a human rights scholar/activist and housing rights advocate from India, subsequently shared his views regarding the Commission’s work during a podcast hosted by Mondoweiss. What he said revealed the Commission’s underlying anti-Semitic agenda.
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Kothari shamelessly equated Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and deliberate massacre of civilians with Israel's actions during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
“So essentially, we are looking at the human rights situation from the river to the sea,” Kothari told Mondoweiss, using the oft-repeated Palestinian expression that essentially denies the legitimate existence of the Jewish State of Israel. “There are similarities inside and outside Green Line, so linkages must be made.” (Emphasis added)
The “apartheid” epithet hurled at Israel from so many pro-Palestinian quarters does not go far enough for Kothari. “We need to figure in settler-colonialism, general issues of discrimination, occupation and other dynamics to get a fuller picture of the root causes of the current crisis,” Kothari told his sympathetic interviewer. He added that “ending ‘apartheid’ will not end the crisis of occupation for the Palestinian peoples … the issue of self-determination requires many other changes.”
Kothari shamelessly equated Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and deliberate massacre of civilians with Israel's actions during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He accused Israel’s supporters in the United Nations of engaging in “double standards,” singling out the United States and Canada for criticism. “When it comes to Ukraine,” Kothari said, “international law becomes very, very important. In fact, it’s used as the standard even by the United States, but most certainly by the European Union, also by the International Criminal Court, and they are pushing ahead and pointing out all the violations done by Russia. But the same violations of occupation and dispossession done by Israel do not receive the same treatment, so there is a serious double standard here which needs to be exposed.” (Emphasis added)
Only an anti-Semite would make such a slanderous comparison. Kothari continued his anti-Semitic rant with his remarks about “the Jewish Lobby” that allegedly controls social media.
“We are outraged by recent antisemitic, anti-Israel comments made by a member of the Israel COI [Commission of Inquiry]
Kothari said that the Commission’s mandate allows him and his co-members “to take a historical perspective,” which he described as a “history of settler colonialism” and alleged “dispossession” of the Palestinian people. Kothari was not only referring to the post-June 1967 period. He said that “what has transpired in the occupied territories since ’67 is something that had already been happening inside the Green Line since ’48,” the year that Israel declared its independence.
“I would go as far as to raise the question of why [Israel is] even a member of the United Nations,” Kothari exclaimed in his effort to delegitimize Israel.
Michèle Taylor, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council, tweeted, “We are outraged by recent antisemitic, anti-Israel comments made by a member of the Israel COI [Commission of Inquiry]. These unacceptable remarks sadly exacerbate our deep concerns about the open-ended nature & overly broad scope of the COI and the HRC’s disproportionate & biased treatment of Israel.”
Last June, Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Tim Scott (R-SC) introduced a bill, which would make it U.S. policy to seek the abolition of the United Nations Human Rights Council Commission of Inquiry’s targeted and biased investigation against Israel. The proposed legislation would withhold funding in order to eliminate the COI.
“The UN Human Rights Council’s decision to investigate Israel — the only democracy in the Middle East — is simply outrageous,” said Senator Scott. “While dictators like Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong-un commit human rights violations with impunity, the council’s misguided inquiry only further undermines its credibility on the world stage.”
The Human Rights Council has long since lost all credibility as it coddles autocratic member states, while regularly seeking to delegitimize Israel with grossly discriminatory resolutions and one-sided inquisitions. The Biden administration should immediately withdraw its candidacy for a seat on this dysfunctional body for the 2022-2024 term. But don’t hold your breath.
