Criticism of Israel is not antisemitism, and no serious person claims otherwise. States should be scrutinised, and Israel is no exception. The question, however, is not whether Israel should be criticised, but whether it is being treated fairly, proportionately, and consistently.
On that measure, the record is deeply troubling. Israel is the only country in the world singled out with a permanent investigative body at the UN Human Rights Council – a standing committee whose sole mandate is Israel, regardless of circumstances or conduct. No such mechanism exists for Iran, China, North Korea, or Syria. That is not “more scrutiny” – it is structural discrimination.
In practical terms, according to a report just submitted this week, this means that roughly $100 million a year is poured into UN reports, committees, and investigative bodies focused overwhelmingly on Israel, including $4 million annually for a permanent Human Rights Council inquiry dedicated to Israel alone. All this money devoted to repeatedly investigating one small democratic state, while far graver human rights crises across the globe are addressed sporadically, or not at all. That’s selective accountability and has absolutely nothing to do with justice.
The same distortion is evident with UNRWA. Created over seventy years ago as a temporary relief agency, it has grown into a permanent bureaucracy with no parallel anywhere in the world. Unlike every other refugee framework, UNRWA does not aim to resettle refugees or resolve their status. The result is not people being helped to rebuild their lives, but people being kept in place. Instead of solving a humanitarian problem, the system keeps people dependent on aid and locked into a sense of ongoing injustice, with no clear path forward. In documented cases UNRWA has allowed its facilities, personnel, and resources to be exploited by Hamas. Whatever its original mandate, it no longer functions as a humanitarian agency and more as a mechanism for perpetuating conflict.
None of this requires “moral exceptionalism” from Israel, nor does it deny Palestinian suffering. Judaism teaches that suffering anywhere demands compassion. Hence Israel is often first on the scene at any given disaster anywhere in the world. But Judaism also insists on truth. When one nation is obsessively condemned while others are systemically excused, then it has nothing to do with human rights and everything to do with anti-Zionism and often enough, by extension, antisemitism.
Accountability that isn’t universal, to include especially rogue nations, is utterly meaningless. And when international institutions abandon even-handedness, they are not protecting the vulnerable; they are eroding their own moral authority. Calling that out is not “silencing criticism.” It is absolutely essential in a world which claims to pursue justice. I will say it loud and clear: The United Nations is no longer a guardian of justice as it was created to be. In its current form, it is a moral sham.