Since March 30, 2018, Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups have organized violent confrontations along Gaza’s border with Israel under the label of the “March of Return.” The riots consisted of an organized armed attack on the Israeli border and IDF positions, attempts to destroy and breach the border fence, and sustained arson, rocket, and mortar attacks on Israeli civilian communities.
On February 28, 2019, the UN published its Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the riots along the Israel-Gaza border. The COI ignored readily and publicly available information that points to the obvious legality of Israeli actions.
NGO Monitor President Professor Gerald Steinberg writes a letter to CUNYLaw regarding its join UN submission with Defense for Children International - Palestine (DCI-P), an NGO closely linked to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
On January 11, 2019, CUNY School of Law Human Rights and Gender Justice Law Clinic and Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCI-P) filed a joint submission to the UN Commission of Inquiry into the Gaza border violence. The submission is replete with egregiously false statements, gross distortions of the law and the facts, and the whitewashing of terror groups including Hamas.
On February 28, 2019, the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the riots along the Israel-Gaza border, which began in March 2018, alleged that “Israeli soldiers committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law… and may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity.” The COI created a “confidential file” of “which is recommended be given to the International Criminal Court (ICC)” and to be used by governments to “consider imposing individual sanctions, such as a travel ban or an assets freeze.”
The UNHRC, UNICEF, and other UN bodies continue to turn a blind eye to Palestinian abuse of children. The violence along the Israel-Gaza border demonstrates this particular failure.
Despite Defense for Children International - Palestine's claims that the Great March of Return is a series of “protests” led by “civilians,” the actual evidence provided in their documentation proves otherwise.
Ariella Esterson discusses how instead of upholding the principle of universality and defending the populations that are suffering, organizations like Amnesty International regularly make political choices and take sides.
Professor Gerald Steinberg writes about how the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva continues to be controlled by some of the worst violators.
On November 22, 2018, B'Tselem published a report that utilized a flawed methodology, minimized the context of violence and terror, belittled the human rights of Israeli civilians living in close proximity to the border, and ignored Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups’ incitement to violence against Israel.
NGO Monitor submitted the following information to the United Nations Human Rights Council for its Commission of Inquiry on the 2018 protests on the Gaza border.