Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the United Nations’ Human Rights Council (UNHRC) as antisemitic after its report on Thursday accusing the Jewish state of carrying out “genocidal acts” and sexual violence tactics against Palestinians.
The UNHRC’s report alleged that Israel “intentionally attacked and destroyed” Gaza’s main fertility center with its blocking of aid medication that ensures safe pregnancies and deliveries.
The intergovernmental body charged it was a deliberate act to prevent Palestinian births.
Netanyahu vehemently denied the allegations and blasted the UN council as “an antisemitic, rotten, terrorist-supporting, and irrelevant body.”
“Instead of focusing on the crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the Hamas terrorist organization in the worst massacre committed against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, the UN is once again choosing to attack Israel with false accusations, including unfounded accusations of sexual violence,” Netanyahu said in a statement, referencing the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attack.
The UNHRC concluded that the destruction of women’s health clinics and surge in maternity deaths due to the restricted access of medical supplies violated the Rome Statute and the Genocide Convention, with the acts slammed as the crime against humanity of extermination.
The report also accused Israel’s military of using forced public strippings and sexual assaults as part of their standard tactics to punish Palestinians.
Israel had arrested ten soldiers last year after they were charged with sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman base near the border.
The Israel Defense Forces denied the UHRC’s allegations, saying it has concrete policies that “unequivocally prohibit such misconduct.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the report was nothing more than a conspiracy theory attempting to demonize the Jewish state.
“It is one of the worst cases of blood libel the world has ever seen (and the world has seen many),” the ministry said on X. “It accuses the victims of the crimes committed against them.
“Hamas is the organization that has committed horrendous sexual crimes against Israelis. It is indeed a sick document that only an antisemitic organization such as the UN could produce,” the agency added.
Hamas, who has faced its own war crimes allegations from the UN, said it welcomed Thursday’s report as a real reflection of the situation in Gaza.
“The UN’s investigation report on Israel’s genocidal acts against the Palestinian people confirms what has happened on the ground: genocide and violations of all humanitarian and legal standards,” the terror group said in a statement.
Israel disengaged from the UNHRC in February following previous allegations that the Jewish state’s war campaign in Gaza was tantamount to genocide, given the large number of civilian deaths, the destruction of nearly all hospitals, and the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Israel is also not a party to the Rome Statute, which gives the International Criminal Court jurisdiction to rule on cases involving crimes against humanity.
The ICC still has active warrants for the arrest of Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over their actions in Gaza.
The ICC also issued warrants against Hamas’ Oct. 7 masterminds last year, accusing them of war crimes and sexual violence during the terror attack that killed more than 1,200 people and saw another 251 kidnapped.
The Oct. 7 organizers, including chief architect Yahya Sinwar, have since been killed by Israel’s forces.
More than 48,500 people have been killed as a result of the war, according to the Hamas-run ministry of health, which does not differentiate between civilians and terrorists.
The IDF last estimated that it had killed more than 17,000 Hamas operatives during the war.
With Post wires
