Israel must be kicked out of international bodies, Palestinian Authority tells UNHRC

Israel should be ousted from international organizations, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki told the United Nations Human Rights Council as he accused the Jewish state of acts of “genocide” against his people.

Steps must be taken in “challenging and isolating the Israeli brutal regime through boycott, the prohibition of engagement with products and companies associated with settlements, and the suspension of Israel’s membership to international organizations,” he said.

It was a statement that alluded to efforts by the PA to oust Israel from the United Nations.

Maliki spoke at the start of the 55th UNHRC session which is held in Geneva through to April 5. He was one of over 100 high-level diplomats slated to address the UNHRC this week.

Further accusations against Israel

He called for a permanent ceasefire to the Israel-Hamas war, charging that Israel’s military actions in Gaza “offend our humanity.”

Maliki accused Israel of “genocide” against Palestinians due to its war in Gaza, charging that it enjoyed immunity for its “crimes against humanity” because the United States had continued to use its veto power to protect Israel from United Nations Security Council sanctions.

The war in Gaza must be ended immediately, he stated. There must be unimpeded humanitarian aid to that enclave and there can be no forced displacement of Palestinians, he stressed.

The Foreign Minister broadened his charges to include Israeli actions against Palestinians in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as he called on Israel to withdraw to the pre-1967 lines and its “occupation” of its territory.

These actions “cause both existential and strategic threats to the Palestinian cause,” Maliki said. “I urge the international community to respond strategically and decisively by taking positive, irreversible steps, including by recognizing the state of Palestine and granting it full membership to the United Nations,” Maliki said.

He did not mention his government’s resignation in Ramallah on Monday, as he stated that the PA was “ready to continue taking up its responsibilities in the Gaza Strip, [and] the West Bank including east Jerusalem, and is eager to collaborate with the international community to revive life in Gaza.”

Maliki charged that “the Israeli apartheid regime serves as the root cause of all crimes hindering the Palestinian people from exercising their fundamental rights and freedom.”

The speakers were given free rein in the opening session to speak about any compelling human rights issue. Many chose to condemn the IDF’s military campaign to oust Hamas from the enclave which it has forcibly controlled since 2007.

A number of the speakers, including Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, also accused Israel of genocide and apartheid. He also charged that the United States was complicit in these atrocities.

The UNHRC opened its sessions as the international community has increasingly called for a permanent ceasefire out of concern for the fate of the Palestinians in Gaza.

Hamas has asserted that close to 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza war-related violence. Israel has said that some 11,000 of those are combatants.

Some of the speakers mentioned the Hamas-led invasion of Israel in which over 1,200 people were killed and 253 were seized as hostages, of which 134 are still being held in the enclave.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock spoke about domestic violence and the attacks against women in the Israel-Hamas war and the Russian-Ukrainian one.

On October 7, “Hamas specifically targeted Israeli women and girls using sexual violence as a weapon.”

She also called on Hamas to release all the hostages.

Baerbock cautioned, however, that while “Israel has the right to defend itself, “it must do so within the framework of international humanitarian law and human rights laws.”

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is simply catastrophic; mothers like us, like me, running from the fighting dragging crying kids behind them in panic, in despair; children [that are often seen] wandering the ruins of their homes, barefoot, hungry, alone,” Baerbock said.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres on Monday deplored the UN Security Council’s deadlock over the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying divisions among its members had “perhaps fatally” undermined its authority.

Guterres said the UN Security Council often found itself “unable to act on the most significant peace and security issues of our time.”

“The council’s lack of unity on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and on Israel’s military operations in Gaza following the horrific terror attacks by Hamas on 7 October, has severely – perhaps fatally – undermined its authority,” he said.

“The council needs serious reform to its composition and working methods,” he said without elaborating.

Asked later if the Security Council could eventually be considered brain dead, Guterres told reporters: “If the Security Council one day shows that it is incapable of doing anything, then it will be very close to this medical condition.”

Separately, the International Court of Justice at The Hague in the Netherlands wrapped up six days of hearings on the legality of Israel’s “occupation” of territory it captured from Jordan and Egypt during the 1967 Six Day War.

On Monday Turkey’s Deputy Foreign Minister Ahmet Yildiz told judges the occupation was the root cause of conflict in the region.

Yildiz said “The unfolding situation after October 7 proves once again that, without addressing the root cause of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there can be no peace in the region,” he said, describing the occupation of Palestinian territories as “the real obstacle to peace” and urging the judges to declare it illegal.

The Arab League’s secretary general Ahmed Aboul Gheit described the “occupation as an affront to international justice” in a statement read out in court by a representative.

A handful of states, including the small island of Fiji, argued the ICJ should refuse to give any advisory opinion on Monday.

The United States urged the court last week to limit any advisory opinion on the matter of occupation and not order the unconditional withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Palestinian territories.

The ICJ hearings closed on Monday and a date for a decision will be announced in due course, the court said. The 15-judge panel is expected to take roughly six months to issue their non-binding opinion on the occupation.

Reuters contributed to this report.