End 'double standards' on Israel-Palestine conflict: UN experts to US

Geneva: Human rights experts at the United Nations (UN) called for an end to impunity for Israel and its supporters and denounced the US for applying "double standards" when dealing with international law violations in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

At a press conference in Geneva, four experts, who serve as Special Rapporteurs to the UN Human Rights Council, urged the international community to hold Israel accountable for alleged violations of international law, including disproportionate violence, humanitarian blockades, and settlement expansion in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Xinhua news agency reported.

Margaret Satterthwaite, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, criticised the US government for undermining the International Criminal Court with "outrageous" threats and stressed the need for international justice to be equitably applied to all.

"It's time to end the double standards," Satterthwaite said.

Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967, cited high civilian casualties and attacks on UN personnel as evidence of systemic violations by Israel, facilitated by a lack of international accountability.

"There are never sanctions on Israel," Albanese said. "Judicial processes are either ignored or circumvented, trade continues, and diplomatic ties remain intact. Member States seem paralysed or awestruck, many of them still normalising the occupation."

Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, criticised Israel's use of counterterrorism rhetoric to justify extreme violence against Palestinians and the chronic dehumanisation of the Palestinian people over the past 14 months, IANS reported.

He called for credible investigations and an end to impunity, noting that violations have largely "gone unchallenged by the states that matter and that can have a real influence to change Israel's behaviour."

Saul specifically criticised the US as a major supplier of military hardware to Israel, accusing its lack of action to use its leverage to address human rights violations effectively.

George Katrougalos, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, echoed the concern for the broader consequences of impunity for the international order, warning that Israel's actions risk creating a two-tiered system where some states are immune to consequences.