Israel and Trump Administration Push to Sanction UN Human Rights Council Over Sexual Violence and Genocide Report

Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- Israel and the Trump administration are moving to sanction the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) after its latest investigation documented Israel’s committing of systematic rape and sexual violence against Palestinian women, men, and children—acts the report classified as genocidal crimes, reported Israel’s Channel 12.

The UNHRC report stressed that Israel is using sexual violence as a military strategy in Gaza. Israeli and US officials responded with outrage, calling the findings “false,” “distorted,” and “antisemitic.”

Israeli and American diplomats at the UN are working to pass legislation that would impose economic sanctions and travel bans on UNHRC officials. The goal is to expand existing US sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to also target the UNHRC.

Israeli officials confirmed they are pressuring the US to enact sanctions against the UNHRC. The US and Israel had already withdrawn from the Council in previous years. Now, they are working on legislative measures in Washington to punish the UNHRC for exposing Israel’s crimes.

Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon is leading the effort alongside incoming US Ambassador Alice Stapnick, who is set to take office soon.

The plan aims to block key UNHRC officials from entering the US and freeze their assets under new financial restrictions.

On Thursday, the Geneva-based Independent International Commission of Inquiry revealed that Israeli authorities “have destroyed … the reproductive capacity of Palestinians in Gaza as a group through the systematic destruction of sexual and reproductive healthcare”, it said in a statement.

It added that this amounted to “two categories of genocidal acts” during Israel’s offensive in Gaza.