The United Nations building in New York. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The investigative commission of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which examined the most recent round of violence on the Israel-Gaza border, presented its findings on Thursday, saying it found “reasonable grounds” that Israeli security forces violated international law.

The panel recommended that UN members consider imposing individual sanctions, such as travel bans or freezing assets, of those identified as responsible by the commission. The UN commission also recommended that materials it collected be transferred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague for possible prosecution.

These findings were rejected by Israeli officials across the political spectrum, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said,”The council has set new records of hypocrisy and lies out of an obsessive hatred for Israel.”

Naturally, organizations funded by the New Israel Fund (NIF) contributed to this report. The NIF has contributed more than $10 million to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) — which called for the Israeli government to establish a commission of inquiry to examine the events that took place along the border.

“It is impossible to ignore the death and injury of dozens of civilians, among them women and children, by claiming self-defense,” said the ACRI — even though almost all of those killed were actually Hamas terrorists.

Among the other organizations that testified or submitted material for the UN report were organizations funded by the NIF, including Yesh Din, B’Tselem, and Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

Adalah lauded the UN report, calling it “a harsh indictment of the Israeli government.”

“The commission adopted the stance of Adalah and other human rights organizations which rejected the High Court decision that allowed the continuation of fatal use of firepower against unarmed demonstrators in Gaza,” said Adalah director Hassan Jabareen.

Attorney Michael Sfard, a legal adviser of Yesh Din who testified before the commission, told Haaretz that “my testimony was part of Yesh Din’s attempt to stop the illegal and immoral use of live fire against thousands of Gazan demonstrators.”

But B’Tselem wasn’t satisfied only with testimony; it also issued a position paper explaining that Israel’s promise to “investigate” 11 incidents in which protesters were killed is mere propaganda.

In a letter, B’Tselem’s director, Hagai El-Ad, said: “A real change in Israeli policy will only take place if the international community demands it clearly and unequivocally, and if it stops allowing Israel to do no more than offer hollow promises of ‘investigation.’”

The New Israel Fund harms the state of Israel by funding these organizations. Its donors must demand accountability.

Ronn Torossian is one of the most well-respected public relations professionals in America. Under his leadership, 5WPR has grown into one of the 15 largest independent PR firms in the nation, with more than 150 professionals in the company’s headquarters in the iconic Helmsley Building in Manhattan.