The ACLJ Responds to UN’s “Independent” Commission of Inquiry Unjustly Attacking Israel

We recently informed you that we would respond to a report by the U.N.’s so-called “Independent” Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel that accused Israel again of violating the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC).

The U.N. Commission’s report not only accused Israel of violating the law but also directly blamed Israel for Hamas’ attack on October 7.

The U.N. Commission’s report stated:

Both the 7 October attack in Israel and Israel’s subsequent military operation in Gaza must be seen in context. These events were preceded by decades of violence, unlawful occupation and Israel’s denial of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination, manifested in continuous forced displacement, dispossession, exploitation of natural resources, blockade, settlement construction and expansion, and systematic discrimination and oppression of the Palestinian people. (Emphasis added).

We filed a response to this ridiculous statement, stating: “Basically, what the Commission is saying is that Hamas’s brutal abduction, rape, and slaughter of innocent civilians was justified—that Israel had it coming.” It’s outrageous that Israel should be held responsible for the atrocities of October 7.

We told the Commission what is missing from its alleged “context.”

The Commission’s so-called “context” utterly disregards actual history, law, and facts, which stand in complete opposition to the Commission’s allegations. . . . By making such a statement, the Commission has not only ignored customary international law on statehood and self-defence, the Mandate for Palestine, and the Oslo Accords, but also the thousands of rockets indiscriminately fired at Israeli civilian population centres from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank and suicide bombings carried out against Israeli civilians. . . . The Commission’s “context” further disregards the fact that Hamas and other terrorist organisations in the Gaza Strip have one agenda, i.e., the total annihilation of Israel and the Jewish people.

More importantly, however, we informed the Commission that its one-sided report disregards the law.

Erroneously, the Commission addresses such brutal actions in the “context” of the Palestinians’ right to self-determination and Israel’s so-called “unlawful occupation”. The Commission disregards that the right to self-determination even in the face of actual unlawful occupation does not allow indiscriminately attacking, killing, raping, and mutilating civilians. As the LOAC is the controlling law applicable to all parties to a conflict, Hamas is subject to its rules and restrictions, just like Israel. Therefore, a claim of a right to self-determination does not give Hamas a pass to violate the LOAC. The Commission disregards that Israel strives to follow the LOAC, while Hamas either completely ignores it or distorts and violates it to its advantage.

We have yet again reminded the Commission that in order to be truly called an “Independent” Commission, it must uphold the standards it states in its reports: “International law cannot be selectively applied; it must be implemented in its entirety.”

The ACLJ will not stand by as Israel’s enemies unjustly attack our greatest ally. We demand that world tribunals deal justly with Israel. We will keep you informed of future unjust actions by the “Independent” U.N. Commission.