The chairmen of the American House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) and Sen. James Risch (R-ID), condemned Monday the upcoming and past UN Human Rights Council (HRC) agenda items for “disproportionately” focusing on Israel’s alleged human rights violations in Golan Heights and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The letter highlights that Israel is the only country for which an entire agenda item has been dedicated to investigating its violations of international law. Particularly, the letter argues if an international investigative mechanism (IIM) is created for Israel, as contemplated within Agenda Item 2 in the upcoming HRC meeting, the investigation would constitute excessive scrutiny given the already existent Commission of Inquiry established by the IRC into the matter. Focusing more on Israel, as the letter argues, “undermine the legitimate and genuine threat posed by real human rights abusers” and is purported to form part of an “insidious anti-Israel trend within the United Nations.”
Ending the letter is a warning that “any HRC member state or UN entity that supports an Israel-specific IIM….will face the same consequences as the ICC faced for its blatant overreach and disregard for sovereign prerogatives.” These remarks are in reference to the previous sanction of the ICC by the Trump administration after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli President Netanyahu.
Agenda Item 2 was a UN Human Rights Council Resolution condemning Israeli conduct in Palestine including the seizure of Palestinian land, arbitrary detainment, war crimes against Palestinian civilians and an array of other war or humanitarian crimes. In the resolution, it was suggested that an investigation should also be opened into Israel’s conduct in Palestine, forming the basis for the present Commission of Inquiry into Israel. Agenda Item 7 was a prior agenda item the HRC specifically opened to investigate Israel’s conduct in Palestine and the scope and extent of human rights abuses.
HRC resolutions are generally non-binding, in that they do not create legal obligations as a result of them being passed. Nonetheless, Israel is a signatory to multiple treaties governing conduct in wartime, including all four Geneva Conventions. Under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israel is obliged to protect civilian populations, avoid disproportionate force, collective punishments, forced deportations and arbitrary use of force. Human Rights Watch reports accused Israel of having violated all of these international law obligations and recent UN resolutions, such as Items 2 and 7, have found such abuses to have exacerbated in recent years.
