In May of 2021, after the eleven-day conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorists in Gaza, the United Nations formed a “Commision of Inquiry” to be solely focused on Israel and to root out “systematic discrimination and repression.”
The commission’s first report came out last month and its content exposed its three members for what they really are: Jew haters.
The report began with, “The continued occupation by Israel of Palestinian territory and discrimination against Palestinians are the key root causes of the recurrent tensions, instability, and protraction of conflict in the region.” The Commission also noted that Israel’s “impunity” is causing increased resentment among the Palestinian people. It went on to state that forced evictions, threats of forced displacement, demolitions, settlement construction and expansion, settler violence, and the blockade of Gaza were major elements to recurring cycles of violence.
As if this defaming report wasn’t enough for them, the members of the UNHRC Commission of Inquiry went on to make remarks not only directed against Israel, but against Jews all over the world. Last week, one of the members, Miloon Kothari, did an interview with the news network, Mondoweiss. He said, “We are very disheartened by the social media that is controlled largely by, whether it is the Jewish lobby or specific NGOs.” These kinds of accusations against the Jewish people are similar to the propaganda that the Nazis were spreading before they began to systematically murder the Jews. This statement should be enough to expel Miloon Kothari from his position of investigator, but unfortunately and most likely, nothing will be done. Kothari continued, “I would go as far as to raise the question of why are they [Israel] even a member of the UN.” This kind of antisemitism is indefensible and cannot be allowed to continue.
The Commission of Inquiry’s chairwoman, Navanethem Pillay, defended Kothari’s statements and said that the remarks had been taken out of context and that accusations of antisemitism had been plaguing the commission from its founding. She also said that “Jews are throwing around accusations of antisemitism like rice at a wedding.”
Thankfully, several world leaders and diplomats have spoken out against these antisemitic statements.
After hearing Navi Pillay’s comments, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Meirav Eilon Shahar, wrote a letter to the UNHRC’s President, Federico Villegas. She said, “This issue comes down to one simple question, is the term ‘the Jewish Lobby’ antisemitic? Even in the context Ms. Pillay claims, that Mr. Kothari was discussing governments and NGOs’ attempts to discredit them, both Mr. Kothari and now Ms. Pillay seem to place the blame for this on an imaginary ‘Jewish lobby,” an age-old antisemitic trope.”
The UNHRC’s president himself called Kothari’s remarks “unfortunate” and said they “could reasonably be interpreted as the stigmatization of the Jewish people.” He suggested Kothari “consider the possibility” of “publicly clarifying” his comments.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, wrote a letter to Frederico Villegas as well in which he said, “The fight against antisemitism cannot be waged with words alone; it requires action. This is the time for action; it is time to disband the Commission. From Mr. Kothari’s outrageous slurs to Ms. Pillay’s defense of the indefensible, this Commission does not just endorse antisemitism – it fuels it.”
Yair Lapid was exactly right when he said that these Jew-hating slurs were indefensible.
These Commission of Inquiry members are essentially trying to demonize and destroy the world’s one and only Jewish state, the state that is the embodiment of Jewish self-determination and Zionism. It is the one safe haven for the 850,000 Jewish refugees and their descendants who have fled persecution in Arab and Muslim countries since 1948. It is also the memory of the six million Jews who were murdered just over 75 years ago.
It is time for this hatred to cease and for these UN commissioners to turn their focus from Israel to real human-rights violations that are happening in countries all over the world, and in the Palestinian Authority’s oppression and violence of their own people and also of Israel.
Israel has the right to defend itself. The Palestinian terrorits are desperate, because Muslim states are beginning to recognize Israe´s right to exist, which means that they are abandoning Palestinian pretentions to push Israelis to the see. Long live Israel