UN commission accuses Israel of taking aim at Palestinian human rights groups

By JOSEF FEDERMAN
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Investigators commissioned by the U.N.’s top human rights body have accused Israel of “delegitimizing and silencing civil society” by outlawing Palestinian human rights groups and labeling their members as “terrorists.” The findings came in the annual report by the Human Rights Council’s “Commission of Inquiry.” The commission, led by a three-member team of human rights experts, was established in 2021 following an 11-day war between Israel and the Hamas militant group in Gaza. Israel rejected Thursday’s report, accusing the commission of being unfairly biased. The report also accused both Hamas and the rival Palestinian Authority in the Israeli-occupied West Bank of committing rights violations.