Entire anti-Israel UN commission quits after US sanctions rapporteur

All three members of UN Human Rights Council commission probing Israel resign in unison, after US sanctions UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese.

By World Israel News Staff

All three commissioners assigned by the United Nations Human Rights Council to a permanent board of inquiry probing Israel resigned on Monday, days after the United States sanctioned United Nations Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, accusing her of antisemitism and support for terror.

Following the conflict between Israel and Gaza terror groups in the spring of 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council established the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Established initially with a team of 24 staffers – later reduced to 18 – the panel was headed by three commissioners, including chairwoman Navi Pillay of South Africa, Miloon Kothari of India, and Chris Sidoti of Australia.

All three have been accused of strongly anti-Israel bias, and in some cases, antisemitism.

In 2022, Miloon Kothari questioned Israel’s right to UN membership and evoked antisemitic tropes about Jewish control of the media—remarks condemned by 18 nations including the U.S., U.K., Germany, and France.

Chris Sidoti has in the past trivialized the issue of antisemitism, claiming that Jews “throw around accusations like rice at a wedding.”

Navi Pillay, who was tapped in July 2021 after she had lobbied governments to “sanction apartheid Israel,” led a commission that generally turned a blind eye to Hamas terrorism and incitement, even after the October 7 massacre.

The three commissioners filed their resignations on Monday, with chairwoman Pillay citing “age, medical issues, and the weight of several other commitments.”

However, the timing of Pillay’s resignation, occurring at the same time as the two other commissioners also quit and just days after the US sanctions on Albanese were announced has fueled speculation the commission was under pressure within the UN.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that US companies were now barred from doing business with Albanese, who has also been banned from entering the US.

“This week, the dominoes are falling,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.

“First, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the historic decision to sanction Francesca Albanese, the UN’s pro-Hamas rapporteur, in wake of a massive campaign led by UN Watch. Now the architects of the UN’s anti-Israel inquisition are fleeing the ship. The tide is turning.”

“The resignation of all three commissioners is long overdue,” Neuer continued. “This was a commission born in prejudice — designed to target Israel, while ignoring Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Palestinian Authority. Its members were selected precisely for their hostility to the Jewish state.”

Francesca AlbaneseNavi PillayUN Human Rights CouncilUnited Nations