Israel demands UN scrap investigation body for Palestinian territories

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By Olivia Le Poidevin

GENEVA (Reuters) -Israel has demanded the U.N. Human Rights Council scrap a commission investigating rights violations in the Palestinian territories and Israel, accusing the body of bias, in a letter seen by Reuters.

In the message sent on Wednesday, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Daniel Meron, said The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, discriminated against his country.

Israel has regularly criticised findings by the U.N.-mandated commission, which has condemned actions by the Israeli military since it launched its offensive on Gaza following the deadly attacks by Hamas militants in October 7, 2023.

The commission – established in May 2021 by the Human Rights Council during earlier hostilities between Israel and Hamas – can provide evidence used in pre-trial investigations by tribunals such as the International Criminal Court.

“The Commission of Inquiry, both in its mandate and in the work of its members, constitutes nothing less than a manifestation of the institutional discrimination against Israel in the Human Rights Council,” read the letter.

Council President Jurg Lauber Lauber had received the letter but had no authority to abolish the commission, Council spokesperson Pascal Sim said. That would be up to the Council’s 47 members, Sim added.

In March a report by the commission said that Israel had carried out “genocidal acts” against Palestinians.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the report’s findings biased and antisemitic.

Israel disengaged from the Human Rights Council in February.

(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin; Editing by Andrew Heavens)