The United Nations logo at U.N. headquarters in New York, U.S., September 23, 2019. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

Israel is reportedly embarking on a diplomatic campaign to discredit a United Nations commission of inquiry that was set up to investigate alleged human rights abuses committed by the IDF during hostilities in Gaza last May and ongoing conflict in the Palestinian territories.

Citing an Israeli Foreign Ministry cable, Israeli news site Walla reported Thursday that Israeli officials are concerned the commission’s first report, due in June, will refer to Israel as an “apartheid state” and that its findings could damage the country’s reputation, particularly among liberal audiences in the US and elsewhere the West.

In May — when the resolution by the UN Human Rights Council was adopted to open an ongoing investigation into incidents surrounding the Gaza war — Israel argued that its security forces “acted with the highest ethical standards, in accordance with international law, in defending our citizens from Hamas’ indiscriminate rocket fire.” Israel said it would not cooperate with the investigation and rejected the resolution, which it cast as an example of the UN’s “blatant anti-Israel obsession.”

According to the ministry’s classified cable, sent to diplomats stationed around the world, the main goal of the planned campaign is to delegitimize the commission, its members and the outcomes, and to prevent or further delay decisions in the future. The diplomatic campaign is expected to gain steam ahead of the UN Human Rights Council meeting in March.

The vote on establishing a commission of inquiry came after Israel and Hamas agreed to a bilateral, unconditional ceasefire on May 21 that ended 11 days of deadly fighting. The inquiry will begin a probe into incidents that occurred both before and after April 13, 2021 and include the recent clashes with Hamas. The mandated commission of inquiry will issue reports to the UN Human Rights Council and to the General Assembly annually, in June and September, respectively.

The UN commission inquiry has been criticized for being unusually broad and open-ended — including by a group of bipartisan US lawmakers, who this week urged the Biden administration to press for its closure. In the past, some UNHRC investigations against Israel have been discredited, including the fact-finding-mission into the country’s military operations during the 2008 Gaza war, chaired by Justice Richard Goldstone, who ultimately distanced himself from some of its conclusions.