UN raises 'ethnic cleansing' concerns over Israel's Hebron operation

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UN raises ‘ethnic cleansing’ concerns over Israel’s Hebron operation

Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Hebron, launched after a deadly attack by Palestinian gunmen, raises serious concerns of “ethnic cleansing,” the United Nations warns.

The municipality in Hebron, the West Bank’s largest city, said in a statement that 3,189 people had been forced from their homes by the ongoing operation.

It followed Friday’s attack in which two Palestinian gunmen killed two soldiers at a checkpoint near the city. The gunmen were killed in a shootout.

Israeli troops entered the Hebron neighborhood of Ein Deir Baha, where the two assailants lived, and ordered residents to pack up and leave.

Israel’s “aggressive operation” has already resulted in the forcible displacement of thousands of Palestinians, “demolished homes and commercial property, and deprived residents of the ability to move freely,” UN rights chief Volker Turk says in a statement.

“The sweeping steps taken raise grave concerns of unnecessary and disproportionate use of force — which must end.”

He says the lockdown is confining many to their homes and immediate neighborhoods.

“Declarations by senior Israeli government officials indicate that the measures implemented are punitive in nature and designed to instill fear. This is unacceptable,” says Turk.

“Those who have been displaced must be allowed to return home. Israel must ensure compensation and reparation for unlawful evictions and demolitions, and associated displacement.

“Collective punishment is a grave violation of international law. Threats to empty and erase entire neighborhoods also raise serious concerns of ethnic cleansing.”

The IDF said Friday that the operation in Hebron was expected to last several days and was “focused and limited to the area from which the terrorists operated.”

Speaking earlier in Cairo, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was deeply alarmed by Israeli actions in the West Bank.

“Evictions are unrelenting with Palestinians driven from their lands. Settler violence is surging,” he said. “We are seeing an increasingly coercive environment, with the specter of ethnic cleansing looming ever larger. This must end.”

The Times of Israel Community.

Read the original article on timesofisrael.com

What we found (1)

The Times of Israel reports the UN's ethnic cleansing warning over the Hebron operation, and gives the UN, the municipality's displacement figure and the attack that preceded it fairly. It never calls the West Bank occupied, though the agency copy it shares with other outlets says "occupied West Bank city of Hebron". The reader is left with no sign of the occupation's settled unlawful status in a story about forced displacement there.

Hedges the documented record
Serious
“Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Hebron”
Why this matters
The Times of Israel writes "the West Bank city of Hebron" with no mention that the territory is occupied. The same agency text published by Al-Monitor and France 24 says "occupied West Bank".
The impression it gives
A reader takes Hebron as a city where Israel's army operates by ordinary right. The displacement looks like a domestic security matter.
The context
The International Court of Justice has ruled Israel's occupation of the West Bank unlawful. Other outlets running the same report kept the word occupied. The Times of Israel uses neither occupied nor occupation anywhere in the article, though the piece turns on forced displacement there.
How we know
- Al-Monitor reported“Israel's military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron”UN raises 'ethnic cleansing' concerns over Israel's Hebron operation (opens in a new tab)
- On the recordThe International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion found Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem unlawful.icj-cij.org (opens in a new tab)
- Checked against the whole articleIt never uses the words “occupied” and “occupation”.
Show it in the article
“Hebron, the West Bank’s largest city”
Why this matters
The Times of Israel calls Hebron "the West Bank’s largest city". The parallel agency copy calls it "the Palestinian territory's largest city".
The impression it gives
A reader has no sign that Hebron is the largest city of an occupied Palestinian territory. It reads as a place with no settled legal status.
The context
Other outlets running the same text describe Hebron as the largest city of the Palestinian territory. The ICJ has found the occupation unlawful.
How we know
- France 24 (English) reported“which is the Palestinian territory's largest city”UN cites 'ethnic cleansing' concerns around Israel's Palestinian displacement operation in Hebron (opens in a new tab)
- On the recordThe International Court of Justice's July 2024 advisory opinion found Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem unlawful.icj-cij.org (opens in a new tab)
Show it in the article
Written straight
Israel's military operation in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, launched after a deadly attack by Palestinian gunmen, raises serious concerns of ethnic cleansing, the United Nations warns. The municipality in Hebron, the occupied Palestinian territory's largest city, said 3,189 people had been forced from their homes.

UN raises 'ethnic cleansing' concerns over Israel's Hebron operation

Hedges the documented record

How other outlets reported it

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