Israel will become ‘pariah’ over Gaza ‘genocide’: UN rights experts

Geneva (Quds News Network)- United Nations human rights experts said “it is unavoidable for Israel to become a pariah” over its “genocide” in Gaza and accused Western countries and some Gulf states of hypocrisy and double standards on Israel’s actions.
Several independent UN experts decried on Monday what they said was Israel’s escalating violence and rights violations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank, its disregard for international court rulings and its verbal attacks on the UN itself.
The rapporteurs also slammed Western countries’ “double standards” in the devastating war and said Israel needed to face consequences for its actions.
“I think it is unavoidable for Israel to become a pariah in the face of its continuous, relentless, vilifying assault of the United Nations, on top of millions of Palestinians,” said Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, citing verbal and military attacks on UN facilities in Gaza.
“Should there be a consideration of its membership as part of this organization, which Israel seems to have zero respect for?”.
“Shockingly, in the face of the abyss reached in [occupied Palestinian territory] … most member states remained inactive at best, or actively aiding and assisting Israel’s criminal conduct,” Albanese told a news conference in Geneva on Monday, repeating allegations of genocide.
Albanese said she was referring to Western states as well as some Gulf nations and others.
Albanese was joined by three other UN independent experts who accused Western countries of hypocrisy and double standards, for example by being more vocal about human rights violations by Russia since its invasion of Ukraine than about Israel’s actions in Gaza.
George Katrougalos, the UN special rapporteur on the promotion of democratic and equitable international order, also called for Israel to be held to the same standards as all countries. He condemned its repeated attacks on critical UN officials or agencies.
“We cannot anymore stand this kind of double standards and hypocrisy,” Katrougalos told reporters.
“I hope that it is not going to continue … I trust that the progressive and democratic citizens of Israel would not let their country become a pariah like South Africa had become during the times of apartheid.”
The experts are among dozens of independent human rights appointed by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the UN.