U.N. hearings probing alleged Israeli rights abuses open in Geneva

By Emma Farge

GENEVA – A collection of public hearings with victims of alleged Israeli human rights violations opened on the United Nations in Geneva on Monday, with Israel dismissing them as “sham trials”.

The impartial Fee of Inquiry, established by the U.N. high human rights physique final yr, plans 5 days of hearings which it says shall be neutral and study the allegations of each Israelis and Palestinian authorities.

Nevertheless, Israel stated the hearings have been convened with little discover and pointed to an “anti-Israel” agenda.

“This (COI) and the convening of those sham trials disgrace and undermine the Human Rights Council,” it stated in an announcement issued by its diplomatic mission in Geneva.

A U.N. human rights workplace has beforehand dismissed allegations of bias and stated Israel had not cooperated with the fee’s work.

The main target of the primary set of hearings shall be on the closure orders of numerous Palestinian organisations by Israel in August and the killing of the Palestinian-American reporter Shireen Abu Akleh in Might.

The U.N. rights workplace has stated its findings counsel that she was killed by Israeli forces whereas an Israeli investigation concluded she was prone to have been unintentionally shot by an Israeli soldier.

On the primary day, three representatives from shuttered Palestinian non-governmental organisations will testify.

Neither the hearings nor the U.N. Human Rights Council have any authorized powers. However investigations launched by the council are typically used as proof earlier than nationwide or worldwide courts.

Apart from Israel, its ally the USA has criticised the U.N. Human Rights Council for what it has described as a “persistent bias” towards Israel. It give up the physique over this in 2018 and solely totally rejoined this yr.

The three-member COI was created after the 11-day battle in Might, 2021 throughout which 250 Gaza Palestinians and 13 individuals in Israel died. The inquiry mandate contains alleged human rights abuses earlier than and after that and seeks to analyze the basis causes of the tensions.