In the tradition of its institutional antisemitism, a UN Commission of Inquiry issued a report on Monday to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), laying the blame for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict exclusively on Israel.

The report blamed Israel’s “persistent discrimination against Palestinians” for the violence in the region. The report was ordered in the wake of the conflict in May 2021, in which more than 3,440 rockets were fired at Israel from Gaza.

“Forced displacement, threats of forced displacement, demolitions, settlement construction and expansion, settler violence, and the blockade of Gaza” were identified as “contributing factors to recurring cycles of violence” by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.

The 18-page report condemning Israel was compiled after the commission traveled to Jordan and Geneva to research the situation. Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission and has not granted it entry into Israel or access to Palestinian-controlled areas in the West Bank and Gaza.

The report reaffirmed that the UN sees Israeli settlements as illegal, including in East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.

Twenty-two countries, including the US, submitted a letter condemning the UN for “long-standing, disproportionate attention given to Israel.” US Ambassador Michèle Taylor read the letter at the 50th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, where the report was being debated.

“We believe the nature of the COI established last May is further demonstration of long-standing, disproportionate attention given to Israel in the Council and must stop,” Taylor read. “We continue to believe that this long-standing disproportionate scrutiny should end and that the Council should address all human rights concerns, regardless of country, in an even-handed manner,” she said.

“Regrettably, we are concerned that the Commission of Inquiry will further contribute to the polarization of a situation about which so many of us are concerned,” Taylor said.

The statement was signed by Israel, the US, Austria, Bulgaria, Brazil, Canada, Cameroon, Colombia, Croatia, Eswatini, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, North Macedonia, Holland, Palau, Togo, and the United Kingdom.

Due to its consistent anti-Israel agenda, President Trump withdrew the US from the UNHRC in 2018. President Biden returned to the organization last year. 

While the UNHRC debated the report, UN Watch held a parallel meeting to counter the biased commission. UN Watch hosted Christian pro-Israel activist and Johannesburg native Olga Meshoe Washington, who debunked UN accusations of Israeli “apartheid” against the Palestinians.

“My people’s history and experience is being used as an antisemitic tool to politically, morally and with incredible pretzel-like twisting and legal gymnastics, legally delegitimize Israel with the hope to criminalize her,” said Washington.

“It trivializes the humiliation and injustices endured by black South Africans who lived through apartheid and who still, together with their descendants, bear the scars of its legacy.”

.@OllieMeWash on the Israel “apartheid” libel: “It trivializes the humiliation & injustices endured by black South Africans who lived through apartheid & who still, together with their descendants, bear the scars of its legacy.”

Follow our live event: https://t.co/FQKZlnugoE pic.twitter.com/9ztJdPheVi

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) June 13, 2022

Apartheid was a system of institutionalized racial oppression that existed in South Africa and southwest Africa from 1948 until the early 1990s. This system denied non-white South Africans basic human rights, such as the right to vote. Apartheid ensured that South Africa was dominated politically, socially, and economically by the nation’s minority white population. Public facilities were segregated by race.

It should be noted that as Israeli citizens, Arabs are afforded all civil rights and liberties. They vote, and the Arab bloc represents the third-largest party in the Knesset. The only restrictions are in some Jewish religious sites which are closed to Jews. Ironically, Palestinian citizens have not voted in 17 years as the PA has not held elections.

Also appearing at the UN Watch event was Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan.

“It’s a little like Groundhog Day: Hamas triggers a war, the UN convenes a commission to condemn Israel for the war,” Kemp said. “The UN Human Rights Council is guilty of perpetuating this conflict, causing bloodshed. And this report will ensure that will be more of these types of Hamas attacks on Israel.”

“When you look at the ratios, Israel killed 48.3% fighters and 51.7% civilians, which is a very high competence rate compared to other conflicts. Hamas killed 92.3% of civilians,” Kemp added.

US Lt. Col. (Ret.) Geoffrey S. Corn commented on Hamas’s use of human shields: 

“You have one side doing everything to create casualties on both civilian sides & one side doing everything to mitigate civilian casualties on both sides of the conflict.”The IDF was fighting an enemy that not only disregards humanitarian law but uses it as a weapon.”