Israeli legal group alleges UN commission applies double standards
In Israel, the Jerusalem Institute of Justice stated that the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel applies different standards to Israel and Hamas. The Jerusalem Post reports this, citing the organization’s 48-page report.
The institute said it analyzed nine key commission reports published from its establishment in 2021 through May 2026. The authors also examined UN documents, budget records, public statements by commission members, and other UN investigations.
Claims regarding the commission’s conclusions
According to the institute, the commission linked alleged violations by Israel to specific officials, military units, state institutions, policies, and institutional intent. At the same time, the report’s authors said that the actions of Palestinian perpetrators were more often described in general terms, as actions by armed groups, militants, attackers, or members of military wings.
The institute specifically referred to the commission’s June 2024 findings on the October 7 attack and the first months of the war. In its main report, the commission attributed crimes committed during the attack to members of Hamas’s military wing, other Palestinian armed groups, and Palestinian civilians. At the same time, the commission linked alleged violations in Gaza to Israeli authorities and members of Israeli security forces.
A separate detailed commission investigation found that the October 7 attack was led and coordinated by Hamas. It also cited indications of ongoing operational instructions, and the commission concluded that Hamas’s military wing and six other Palestinian armed groups had deliberately attacked civilians and committed war crimes.
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Evidence and mandate
The Jerusalem Institute of Justice acknowledged these findings but stated that Hamas’s leadership, chain of command, operational planning, and organizational policy had not been analyzed with the same depth as Israeli institutions and officials.
The organization also alleged double standards in the assessment of evidence. It claimed that the commission dismissed explanations from the Israeli military and security services as insufficiently substantiated, but used information from Palestinian authorities, Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, civil society organizations, confidential witnesses, and social media, without always explaining the independent verification of these data or their comparison with conflicting evidence.
The UN commission has stated that its findings are based on interviews, submissions, satellite imagery, medical records, and verified open-source materials. Israel refused to cooperate with the investigation and did not allow its representatives access, calling the body structurally biased. The commission noted that the lack of access hindered its work.
The institute also criticized the commission’s open-ended mandate, which covers violations since April 2021, earlier events, and broader causes of the conflict. In 2025, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom jointly expressed regret over the open-ended nature of the commission’s work. The institute called on UN member states to end its activities and replace it with time-limited investigations with clearer standards of evidence and impartiality.
