Letter from the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations to U.N. Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights regarding the U.N. "Commission of Inquiry" on Israel

"Your Excellencies:

We write on behalf of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations to express our deep concerns regarding the Commission of Inquiry (COI) established by the Human Rights Council as a result of a special session in Resolution S-30/1 of May 27, 2021.

Since its establishment in 2006, the Human Rights Council has held 31 special sessions, of which nine were dedicated to Israel. Indeed, no other country has been subjected to such scrutiny and systemic bias by the UN’s human rights organ. We regret that several features of the newly created Commission of Inquiry display a similar bias and wish to draw this to your attention.

Although the text of Resolution S-30/1 may appear facially neutral, it is obvious that its intent, once again, is to provoke disproportionate criticism of Israel and to drive the Commission it creates to conclude that Israel has violated international law. Moreover, Resolution S-30/1 does not name the terrorist organization “Hamas,” although, during its conflict with Israel last May, Hamas indiscriminately attacked Israeli civilians with over 4,300 rockets and mortars fired from densely populated civilian areas, in close proximity to schools, mosques, and homes; 680 of these landed within Gaza itself, maiming and killing civilians, including women and children, and damaging vital infrastructure.

In contrast, Resolution S-30/1 does name Israel, and, in an exceptional departure from past practice, it charges the Commission with investigating the situation inside Israel as well as outside it. The resolution encourages the Commission members to determine that Israel is engaged in “systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity.” This requirement was clearly inspired by NGO reports, which have accused Israel of violating international law in the Palestinian areas, including East Jerusalem.

The resolution does not acknowledge Israel’s independent and impartial legal system or its democratic government, which includes Arab Israelis in the governing coalition, and human rights protection mechanisms and measures to address any inadequacies. It similarly does not acknowledge that Israel already accepts international scrutiny of its human rights practices in forums that are not one-sided, and to which it has consented.

Resolution S-30/1 also purports to give this Commission, unlike any other created by the Council in its history, an open-ended mandate. This will provide the States that supported the resolution an additional opportunity to engage in repeated denunciations of Israel at the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly, unless a new resolution affirmatively brings S-30/1 to an end.

Regrettably, the Council’s President appointed three members of the Commission who fail to meet the fundamental requirement of impartiality. Navi Pillay, Christopher Dominic Sidoti, and Miloon Kothari each have made public statements and engaged in activities that reflect a preexisting and biased view of Israel. The composition of the Commission of Inquiry effectively guarantees that its resulting report will lack credibility.

The infamous General Assembly resolution 3379 of 1975, which equated Zionism with racism, was eventually revoked because many Member States realized that it was harmful to the UN’s credibility and its ability to play a constructive role in the search for peace in the Middle East. Any similar resolution, such as one that accuses Israel of committing the crime of apartheid, will have a similar detrimental effect for the United Nations. We therefore strongly urge you to use your authority to ensure that the Commission does not present a report that will unfairly criticize Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.”