Hamas is empowered by the United Nations, celebrated in our universities, and legally treated with empathy by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC actually issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And thanks to an anti-Israel bias by a media that swallows Hamas’ propaganda hook, line, and sinker, the terrorist organization is winning the PR war, but it’s up to us to fight back and defend Israel. Add your name to: Defend Israel From Anti-Israel Attacks Across the Globe.
The United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory and Israel (COI or Commission) recently released a report titled “More than a human can bear: Israel’s systematic use of sexual, reproductive and other forms of gender-based violence since 7 October 2023.”
The title evokes disturbing images of rape, sexual slavery, forced sterilizations, and other war crimes being committed. The ACLJ embarked on a mission to review the report carefully and thoroughly to find any traces of truth.
Our unmistakable conclusion is that this report is a shameful attack on Israel’s sovereignty and a deceptive attempt to smear Israel’s efforts to lawfully defend itself and its citizens against the attacks perpetrated by Hamas, an internationally recognized terrorist organization. In fact, the report deviously blames Israel for the very vile actions committed by Hamas.
First, the content of the report does not support the title in the way that one would expect. A reasonable person wants evidence of the claims being made in the report. However, the seriousness of the title of the report is only matched by the serious lack of evidence for the accusations against Israel.
Despite its frightening headline, the report fails to provide any evidence of actual sexual, reproductive, or gender-based violence perpetrated by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Instead, it spotlights instances that are the indirect consequences of war – many of which result from Hamas’ own actions – as intentional acts of sexual, reproductive, and gender-based violence.
For instance, as hospitals have maternity wards and their destruction has an adverse effect on women, the COI report alleges that any attack that collaterally impacts a hospital is “reproductive violence,” regardless of the evidence that a hospital is being used by Hamas terrorists to carry out their activities. In addition to hospitals, any destruction of roads leading to a hospital is also “reproductive violence” in the Commission’s eyes, as it also has an adverse effect on women. The COI clearly misunderstands the laws of war.
The Commission further calls the shortage of menstrual pads and healthy food for pregnant women “reproductive violence.” One example of “reproductive violence” the Commission cites is a pregnant woman who had to eat canned tuna due to the lack of flour to make bread or the lack of milk or eggs. Another example of “reproductive violence” the Commission provides is a woman who was no longer able to produce breast milk due to stress and anxiety brought on by the hostilities. One woman reported to the Commission that “due to the lack of menstrual pads, she had to use children’s nappies on one occasion or a piece of cloth.” The Commission unashamedly alleges that these secondary consequences of war constitute “reproductive violence.” Yet it ignores that Hamas, not Israel, began these hostilities and unashamedly engaged in laws of war violations.
There is no doubt that these stories are heartbreaking realities of the conditions of war. However, to catalog them as deliberate acts of “sexual and reproductive violence” is a contortion of both the facts and law.
Next, the COI accuses Israel of the “systematic use of sexual violence,” not because Israeli soldiers committed it but because Israeli officials cited Hamas’ use of sexual violence on October 7 to justify military actions in Gaza. It is difficult to make logical sense of this claim. How can Israel be accused of systematic sexual violence for merely acknowledging crimes committed by Hamas against its own citizens?
The report also holds Israel responsible for gender-based discrimination within Palestinian society. Deeply rooted tragic social issues like fathers forcing daughters to wear veils, men beating women, and early child marriages are not Israel’s doing and were present in Gaza well before the war started. However, to suggest Israel’s military operations caused these acts is an insult to a fight against those who are actually responsible for these problems.
The COI emphasizes strip searches of detainees as “egregious,” yet strip searches are not unlawful. Furthermore, strip searches are absolutely necessary due to the credible security threat posed by terrorists hiding weapons and explosives under civilian clothing.
Notably, since October 7, 2023, Israel’s Military Advocate General’s Corps has launched at least 74 criminal investigations regarding incidents that raised suspicion of criminal misconduct by Israeli forces. Yet, the Commission falsely claims that there is a “clear culture of impunity within the [IDF].”
Actual sexual and gender-based crimes, as defined by international law, include rape, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancies, sexual mutilation, and the like. The examples cited by the COI do not even remotely fit these categories. By diluting these definitions, the Commission undermines the stories of actual victims of such atrocities, especially the women raped and mutilated by Hamas on October 7.
Ironically, the COI report only mentions one instance of the alleged rape of a detained man, which is currently under investigation in an Israeli military court, showing that Israel is taking the case seriously. The COI’s takeaway from this one accusation is a claim of a widespread, state-sanctioned policy of sexual violence.
The most concerning aspect is how other international institutions and NGOs have embraced the COI’s reports as the unbiased, untainted, and objective truth. The International Court of Justice has cited the Commission’s reports 14 times. Amnesty International, the International Center for Transitional Justice, and others echoed its absurd conclusions without scrutinizing the underlying facts. This uncritical acceptance weakens the credibility of human rights institutions. International justice is relegated to a political weapon.
There is no denying that war inevitably produces immense suffering. But equating wartime conditions, such as lack of food and sanitary supplies, with intentional sexual, reproductive, and gender-based violence waters down the intensity of actual sexual violence and serves a dangerous political agenda.
The U.N. COI has demonstrated that it cannot ethically serve its mandate. The ACLJ calls on the U.N. Secretary-General and the Human Rights Council to terminate the COI’s mandate and investigate and reprimand COI members for their grossly unethical conduct.
To that end, we have just sent the first of a series of legal demand letters to the U.N. Secretary-General, International Criminal Court Prosecutor, and members of the Security Council and Human Rights Council, calling on them to reject this biased and false report and to investigate the actual heinous acts committed by Hamas.
Join us in our defense of Israel and sign our petition: Defend Israel From Anti-Israel Attacks Across the Globe.