UN criticism:

Israel obstructs interrogation of Hamas victims

Released Hamas hostages on their way to Egypt(Bild: AP)

A United Nations commission set up in 2021 to investigate violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Israel and the Palestinian territories is complaining that its work is being obstructed by the Israeli government.

The investigators are currently looking into the events of 7 October and the subsequent war against the terrorist organization Hamas. "As far as the Israeli government is concerned, we have so far experienced not only a lack of cooperation, but an active obstruction of our efforts to obtain evidence of the incidents in southern Israel through Israeli witnesses and victims," said Chris Sidoti from the Commission of Inquiry appointed by the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday in Geneva.

Commission: "Do not get access"
"I regret that people in Israel who want to talk to us are denied this opportunity because we are not given access to Israel," said the chair of the commission, former UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay.

The South African lawyer Navi Pillay was a judge at the International Criminal Court from 2003 to 2008.(Bild: APA/AFP/Fabrice COFFRINI)

Israel rejected the allegations and made accusations against the Commission. UN representatives had already been in the country and had met survivors and victims of the October 7 attack. But the 1200 victims, the raped women and girls and the hostages in the Gaza Strip knew very well that they would not be treated fairly or with dignity by this commission and its members. 

Commission "anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli"
Finally, the commission has made "anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli" statements in the past. One of the representatives, the Indian Miloon Kothari, had apologized in 2022 after speaking of a "Jewish lobby" in an interview.