UN: Israel silences Palestinian human rights groups

A report by the top human rights body of the United Nations 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 Thursday in an annual report by the Human Rights Council's "Commission of Inquiry," set up after Israel's 11-day assault on 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, ostensibly as part of an effort to dissuade them from continuing their work. Navi Pillay, the former UN human rights chief heading up the commission, censured Israel's violation of Palestinian rights and said Israeli authorities were "restricting the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful association."

“We were particularly alarmed by the plight of Palestinian human rights defenders, who are routinely subjected to a variety 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 to "guarantee and sanction its permanent occupation at the expense of the rights of the Palestinian people." The report stressed that Israel's crackdown on Palestinian rights groups was "unjustified and violated basic human rights, including the rights to freedom of association, expression, opinion, peaceful assembly, privacy and the right to a fair trial."