UN Rights Chief: World Can’t Accept Israel’s ‘Blatant Disregard’ of International Law

Other countries must hold Israel accountable for violating international law in its war on Gaza and escalating violence in the illegally occupied West Bank, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said Monday.

Türk’s remarks came as he opened the 57th session of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva with a wide-ranging warning about the rise of international violence and human rights violations worldwide.

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Ending Israel’s war on Gaza and “averting a full-blown regional conflict is an absolute and urgent priority,” Türk said.

“States must not—cannot—accept blatant disregard for international law, including binding decisions of the (U.N.) Security Council and orders of the International Court of Justice, neither in this nor any other situation,” he said.

In particular, Türk referenced the International Court of Justice’s advisory ruling in July that Israel’s occupation of Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem is illegal. The ICJ also called on Israel to evacuate its settlers from the West Bank and on other nations not to recognize Israel’s occupation as legal or to render any aid to Israel that maintained the status quo.

Türk on Monday called for the situation to be “comprehensively addressed.”

He added that Israel’s war on Gaza had forced 1.9 million people to flee their homes since October 7, 2023, many more than once, as Hurriyet Daily News reported. The war has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to official figures, though experts say the true death toll is likely much higher.

“I urge voters to ask themselves which of the political platforms or candidates will work for the human rights of everyone.”

Türk added that “deadly and destructive” operations in the West Bank, such as 10-day period of raids that concluded Friday, are at a scale “not witnessed in the last two decades” and are “worsening a calamitous situation.”

He also spoke out for the rights of the likely more than 10,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and the 101 hostages still held in Gaza.

Beyond Israel and Palestine, Türk also highlighted ongoing conflicts in Sudan and between Russia and Ukraine, noting that the international community seemed to accept the “crossing of innumerable red lines, or readiness to toe right up to them.”

“We are at a fork in the road,” the human rights chief advised. “We can either continue on our current path—a treacherous ‘new normal’—and sleepwalk into a dystopian future, or we can wake up and turn things around for the better, for humanity, and the planet.”

In a record election year, Türk argued that committing to the protection of human rights was especially important.

“I urge voters to ask themselves which of the political platforms or candidates will work for the human rights of everyone,” he said.

In particular, he encouraged voters to “be wary of the shrill voices, the ‘strongman’ types that throw glitter in our eyes, offering illusory solutions that deny reality.”

“Know that when one group is singled out as a scapegoat for society’s ills, one day your own might be next,” he said.