Washington - "Jerusalem" dot com - Saeed Erekat - More than 50 human rights organizations have called for an end to the "pressure attacks" by the United States and Israel on the United Nations commission investigating racial discrimination and Israeli oppression against the Palestinian people.

Last year, the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) established an "ongoing" international commission of inquiry to investigate Israeli violations of international humanitarian law.

Rights groups, many of which represent and act on behalf of the Palestinians, pledged their "full support" to the UN Commission of Inquiry on Palestine, which it said was facing "escalating attacks" led by Israel.

The letter says the UN commission is facing a smear campaign and baseless accusations that its members are anti-Semitic and are calling for its "dissolution".

She adds, "The intensified attacks (on the commission) come in light of the unique and historic mandate of the current commission, which is the first permanent UN investigative body with a comprehensive mandate covering colonized Palestine."

Israel and Egypt have sought to stifle the committee's work by denying entry to the Occupied Palestinian Territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip to carry out its mandate.

Middle East Eye attributes to Professor Norman Finkelstein, author of several books on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict including his famous book “The Holocaust Trade” that, “There is nothing new here. Israel, with the support of the United States, has always sought to undermine or sabotage committees United Nations investigation.

"The most famous example was the Goldstone Report, which Israel and the United States worked so hard to kill," Finkelstein added.

"The challenge with these reports is that they lack enforcement power," he said. What is also needed besides these committees is “a political movement and political leadership that can use those tools to galvanize public opinion.”

The greatest challenge facing the Palestinians, Finkelstein warns, is that while they have achieved many "paper victories" with UN resolutions, human rights reports and other international rulings, they have found it difficult to translate these victories into facts on the ground.

"Israel always takes advantage of opportunities," he says. "Now it sees an opportunity to weaken the committee. Right now, you see that the media is preoccupied with Ukraine and Taiwan - why not kill a Palestinian leader and mow the lawn again in Gaza?"

Finkelstein notes that "Israel does not miss the opportunity to kill Palestinians, and the Palestinian cause is weak at the moment and there is little regional support."

It is reported that the current intense pressure campaign on the committee comes after Commissioner Milon Kothari gave an interview in which he spoke condemning Israel for not cooperating with the UN investigation, adding that if Israel wants to be part of the UN, it must abide by its rules.

"I would go so far as to raise the question of why they are even members of the United Nations, because the Israeli government does not honor its obligations as a member state of the United Nations. They are in fact consistently, either directly or through the United States have tried to undermine the mechanisms of the United Nations," Kothari said. ".

It is mentioned that the committee’s mandate is not limited in time or subject to renewal, which prevents its closure due to specific deals between countries or through pressures on specific countries. The investigation was not limited to the immediate circumstances that led to its formation, namely the suppression of peaceful Palestinian protests and the subsequent Israeli military attack on the Gaza Strip in May 2021, and the killing of 256 Palestinian civilians, but rather issued explicit instructions to take the time it needs and examine the "root causes underlying the recurring tensions." in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel.

In a letter in defense of Kothari, Navi Pillay, chair of the UN commission, highlighted Israel's refusal to cooperate with the commission and "adhere to its international obligations to end the occupation and fulfill the Palestinian right to self-determination."

Human rights organizations warned in their letter to defend the UN committee against the attacks that Israel has a record of not cooperating with UN investigative and fact-finding bodies.

The tactic used by Israel includes "denying entry to Palestine, leading organized lobbying efforts against these bodies, and carrying out defamation campaigns accusing the bodies of bias and 'anti-Semitism'."

The letter warned, "The latest attack on the Commission of Inquiry's mandate is a continuation of Israel's systematic efforts to shut down internationally mandated accountability mechanisms."

A few weeks ago, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid demanded, in a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, "the immediate removal of all three members of the investigation committee charged with investigating Israel, and the dissolution of the investigation committee."

The United States has also worked closely with its longtime ally Israel and last June pressured 21 other countries to say the committee was giving Israel "disproportionate" attention.