A report by the United Nations’ top human rights body has found that the Israeli regime is “delegitimizing and silencing civil society” by criminalizing Palestinian human rights groups and labeling their members as “terrorists.”
The findings were released in an annual report on Thursday by the Human Rights Council’s “Commission of Inquiry,” which was established after Israel’s 11-day aggression against the besieged Gaza Strip in May 2021.
The report, which examined attacks, restrictions, and harassment of civil society actors, found that Palestinian journalists were particularly targeted and subjected to frequent harassment and punitive measures by Tel Aviv, seemingly as part of an effort to deter them from continuing their work.
Navi Pillay, a former UN human rights chief leading the commission, censured the Israeli violation of Palestinian rights and said the Israeli authorities were “limiting the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful association.”
“We were particularly alarmed by the situation of Palestinian human rights defenders, who are routinely subject to a range of punitive measures as part of the occupation regime,” Pillay said.
The former UN human rights chief added that most of the violations were committed as part of Tel Aviv’s campaign aimed at “ensuring and enshrining its permanent occupation at the expense of the rights of the Palestinian people.”
The report underlined that the Israeli crackdown on the Palestinian rights groups was “unjustified and violated fundamental human rights, including the rights to freedom of association, expression, opinion, peaceful assembly, privacy and the right to a fair trial.”
