When the U.N. defends terrorists and demonizes Israel

The United Nations Human Rights Council once again turned its session into a platform of anti-Israel propaganda on Tuesday, after High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk condemned Israel for its September 9 strike on Hamas leaders in Doha.

Türk called the operation “a shocking breach of international law” and “an assault on regional peace,” echoing the language of states openly sympathetic to Hamas. His comments ignored a central truth: the individuals targeted were not peace negotiators but senior members of a terrorist organization responsible for massacres, kidnappings, and the ongoing war in Gaza.

Israel’s ambassador to Geneva, Daniel Meron, rightly described the debate as “another shameful chapter” in the Council’s history of hostility. The Council, Meron noted, continues to vilify Israel while turning a blind eye to Hamas’s systematic use of human shields, rocket fire at civilians, and its role in triggering the Gaza war.

Qatar, joined by Algeria, Pakistan, and supported by the European Union, accused Israel of “state terrorism” and of undermining mediation efforts. None of these states acknowledged the undeniable fact that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad — both internationally recognized terrorist groups — bear sole responsibility for the conflict.

The hostility went further. A U.N. Commission of Inquiry outrageously accused Israel of genocide, even naming Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. These accusations are not only unfounded but grotesquely distort the reality of a defensive war against terrorist organizations entrenched in urban areas. Civilian suffering in Gaza, while tragic, is the direct result of Hamas embedding its military infrastructure among civilians.

Once again, the U.N. has chosen to demonize Israel while ignoring the crimes of terrorist groups. This obsession with vilifying the Jewish state undermines the credibility of the international system and disrespects the very principles the U.N. claims to defend.

Israel’s actions are not “state terrorism.” They are the legitimate defense of a nation facing existential threats. The true scandal lies not in Israel’s strike, but in the United Nations’ continued campaign of bias and hostility.