Netanyahu calls UN corrupt after it accuses IDF of sexual abuse
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denounced a UN study that concluded Israel had committed “genocidal acts” and sexual abuse in the Gaza Strip, France 24 reported on March 13th.
Israel “intentionally attacked and destroyed” the major reproductive clinic in the Palestinian area, the UN Commission of Inquiry said. At the same time, Israel enforced a blockade and prevented aid, including medicine that would have ensured safe pregnancies, births, and neonatal care.
The Israeli authorities “have destroyed in part the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza as a group through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare”, it added in a statement.
According to the report, certain types of sexual abuse and gender-based violence “comprise part of the Israeli Security Forces’ standard operating procedures towards Palestinians.” These include forced public nudity and stripping, sexual harassment, including threats of rape, and sexual assault.
Netanyahu called the findings “false and absurd”, accusing the UN Human Rights Council of being anti-Semitic and corrupt.
In a statement released by his office, the Israeli leader said: “Instead of focusing on crimes against humanity and the war crimes committed by the Hamas terrorist organisation in the worst massacre against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, the UN once again chooses to attack the state of Israel with false accusations, including absurd claims [of destroying sexual and reproductive healthcare facilities in Gaza].”
In May 2021, the UN Human Rights Council created the three-member Independent International Commission of Inquiry to look into claims of violations of international law in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Israel has accused the organisation of corruption several times. Last month, Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar alleged that the UNHCR had been antisemitic.
“This body has focused on attacking a democratic country and propagating anti-Semitism, instead of promoting human rights,” he wrote on X.
France 24
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