The UN report on Israel: Activism masquerading as accountability

The United Nations has added Israeli security forces to its annual blacklist of parties suspected of committing sexual violence in conflict zones, a move that has drawn sharp criticism over the organization's deeply entrenched hostility toward the Jewish state.

The report, based largely on accusations from detainees, was compiled despite what Israel describes as an open invitation to UN inspectors, who, according to Israeli officials, "chose not to come" and instead "chose to continue with the campaign against Israel."

That detail alone speaks volumes about an organization whose credibility on matters concerning Israel has long been in tatters.

A Vendetta Disguised as Accountability

The UN's obsession with Israel is not new. But since the October 7 Hamas massacres, the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust, it has reached new heights of bad faith. Rather than unequivocally condemning one of the most barbaric terrorist attacks in modern history, the UN has consistently redirected its fire at Israel's military response.

And the organization continues to pay Francesca Albanese, its Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, whose statements have repeatedly crossed the line into what many observers, including prominent Jewish organizations and several Western governments, have denounced as barely veiled antisemitism. Albanese has compared Israeli actions to Nazi crimes and questioned whether October 7 victims deserved sympathy. She remains on the UN payroll.

The blacklist itself raises serious questions. It purports to document "systematic" sexual violence, yet it relies heavily on accounts that cannot be independently verified, given what the UN itself acknowledges are significant access limitations. Israel is lumped alongside regimes in Sudan, Myanmar, and the DRC, where documented atrocities are on an entirely different scale.

The pattern is clear: an institution that was once a pillar of international law has allowed itself to become a platform for anti-Israel activism, shielded by the language of human rights.

Until the UN addresses its own institutional biases, starting by ending its association with figures like Albanese, its reports on Israel will continue to be viewed by many as political documents, not credible accountability mechanisms.