The UN Commission which found Israel guilty of genocide consisted of three people: Navi Pillay, a retired South African judge; Miloon Kothari, an Indian commissioner; and Chris Sidoti, an Australian lawyer. They were appointed by the UNHCR, a body which has a standing order to debate a resolution on Israel at least one per session but has never passed a single resolution condemning abuses in Algeria, Cuba, China, Iraq or Zimbabwe.
There are well founded doubts about the independence of this panel. In 2020 Navi Pillay signed a petition lobbbying governments to 'sanction apartheid Israel'. She also signed a letter to Joe Biden in 2021 accusing Israel of provoking war through 'aggressive actions' and practising 'discrimination and systematic oppression'. Miloon Kothari, speaking on an anti-Zionist website in 2022, said that he was 'very disheartened by the social media that is controlled largely by - whether it is the Jewish lobby or specific NGOs'. A month later he apologised, saying 'It was completely wrong for me to describe social media as "being controlled largely by the Jewish lobby" '. Chris Sidoti is reported to have told the UN Human Rights Council in 2022 that some Jews were 'throwing around accusations of anti-Semitism like rice at a wedding'. These are not the comments to be expected from independent judicial figures and I think all three should have recused themselves.
Interestingly Alice Wairimu Nderitu was hired in 2020 as the UN special advisor on the prevention of genocide. After October 7 she issued a statement condemning Hamas' attack. She received a stern email from a civil servant at the UN Office of Human Rights, criticising her statement as 'one-sided', adding that it 'might cause reputational risk on the image of the United Nations as an independent neutral impartial body'. Against considerable pressure she refused to describe Israel's war in Gaza as genocide on the grounds that Israel was not seeking to eliminate an ethnic group or civilian population. She said that in its obsession with Israel the UN was ignoring atrocities in Ukraine, Congo and Myanmar. She received threatening phone calls, emails and social media messages such as 'Filthy Zionist rat, you will burn in hell forever for supporting the rape and murder of little kids by your bestial masters'. Her contract was not renewed by the Secretary General at the end of 2024.
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