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However, Israel supporters and U.N. critics have this week blasted the leading human rights body and the report for failing to illuminate alleged Hamas war crimes – in particular, the widespread and illegal use of human shields.

“Since the 2014 Gaza conflict, Hamas (has) used civilians as human shields for its own fighters. Similar tactics were successfully adopted by Hezbollah against Israel in their 2006 conflict,” Lt. Gen Richard Natonski, a retired U.S. Marine and member of the Hybrid Warfare Task Force at the Jewish Institute for National Security America (JINSA), told Fox News. “The use of human shields in combat is contrary to Western thinking and the law of armed conflict. It’s hard to imagine how this wasn’t mentioned in the U.N. report, except for perhaps a certain bias by the authors of the report against Israel.”

JINSA has issued its own report, “Defending the Fence: Legal and Operational Challenges in Hamas-Israel Clashes,” to counter the U.N. report’s narrative.

“Hamas systematically violates international law by purposely using Gazan Palestinian civilians as human shields for attacking Israel, provoking Israeli actions that would lead to civilian casualties, and attacking Israeli civilians indiscriminately,” the JINSA report stated, underscoring that the COI’s report both “undermines the international legal regime it seeks to enhance and sets a precedent encouraging Hamas and similar armed groups to double down on these illegal tactics.”

Some Israel supporters have accused the U.N. Human Rights Council of being complicit in Hamas’ “terror campaign” against Israel.

“The U.N. report validates the illegal tactics used by Hamas against Israel, and sets a precedent encouraging not only Hamas, but similar groups like Hezbollah, to continue placing civilians in harm’s way,” Natonski said.

Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have been quick to condemn the U.N. council and its report as anti-Semitic and partisan. Israel went on to boycott its debate on Monday as hundreds of Israel proponents – including American officials – massed outside the U.N. building in Geneva.

The 252-page U.N. report makes brief mention of Israeli claims that Hamas, a designated terrorist organization in the United States, was using human shields and that journalists were acting as shields to protect Hamas operatives.

“Terrorists’ use of human shields is a remarkably effective tactic against countries like the U.S. and Israel, whose ethical and military codes require avoiding civilian casualties. Terrorists hide among civilians to shelter themselves from lawful attacks or deliberately cause civilian casualties,” said Mark Dubowitz, the CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). “Terrorists and their sponsoring regimes must be held accountable for their brutal practice of using civilians as human shields. The U.N. Commission’s unwillingness to hold Hamas accountable for its war crimes only costs more civilian lives.”

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz joined the chorus of condemnation by taking aim at the U.N. report, calling the “useful idiots” at the United Nations “absurd and dishonest.”

“Hamas and Hezbollah use human shields as a deliberate tactic,” the veteran GOP lawmaker said. “They use innocent Palestinian civilians, to put them in harm’s way, because they intend to exploit those human shields for when they are injured or killed when Israel defends itself.”

The Trump administration pulled out of the U.N Human Rights Council last year, specifying an inherent anti-Israel prejudice at the organization as a key reason for withdrawal.

Despite the criticism, the COI is remaining firm in their findings, which allege that 183 or the 189 who were killed in the skirmishes – which also included 32 children – were killed by live fire, and that such live ammunition also wounded more than 6,000 Palestinians.

“The most important thing for the government of Israel is to review the rules of engagement immediately and to ensure that the rules of engagement are according to accepted international standards,” Santiago Canton, the commission’s chairman, told the Human Rights Council this week.

The commission has furthermore submitted a clandestine file to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) naming specific individuals responsible for alleged violations and advocating that the dossier be passed to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

A new round of protests is expected to commemorate the first anniversary of the uprisings at the end of the month.

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The report, produced by the U.N. Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, alleges that Israel killed 189 Palestinians during the riots.

“The Israeli security forces committed violations of international human rights and humanitarian law,” said Commissioner Kaari Betty Murungi of Kenya. “Some of those violations may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity, and must be immediately investigated by Israel.”

The Israel-based Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center found that about 80 percent of those killed in the riots were affiliated with Hamas, which controls Gaza, and other terrorist organizations. Israel says that Hamas has used the demonstrations as cover to launch operations to breach Israel’s border fence and attack Israelis.

Cruz said in a conference call that the U.N. report is a “dishonest” characterization of a more complicated situation in the Gaza Strip, citing reports that Hamas will often insert its fighters into crowds of protesters to incite violence and escape immediate detection from the Israeli military.

“It is a repeated and deliberate strategy of Hamas to use human shields,” said Cruz, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “The U.N. report ignores that reality.”

Cruz also called out the U.N. Human Rights Council, which is reviewing the report, for its long-standing anti-Israel bias, and said that its actions should not deter the United States from supporting Israel.

“America stands with Israel for many reasons, but none more important than standing with Israel furthers our own national security interests,” Cruz said.

Geoffrey Corn, a professor at South Texas College of Law Houston who served in the U.S. Army for 21 years, was also on the call and echoed Cruz’s sentiments. Corn is a co-author of a new report by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, or JINSA, on “legal and operational challenges in Hamas-Israel clashes” during both last year and this year.

“Not everything the military is doing is going to be like a battle against a defined enemy,” he said, in reference to the U.N. report’s claim that Israeli soldiers killed civilians in Gaza.

Corn went on to criticize the report for framing the demonstrations as purely civilian protests when Hamas used them to try to attack Israel. During the border riots, some Palestinians tried to breach the security fence between Israel and Gaza and attacked Israeli soldiers with Molotov cocktails and other weapons. Some Gazans launched firebomb-bearing kites over the barrier to attack Israel.

“Framing the confrontation as just another civilian protest was unjustified,” Corn said, adding that the U.N. report does not take into account the numerous threats that Israel faces in the Middle East every day.

Retired Navy Vice Adm. John Bird, who worked on the JINSA report, was also on the call Monday. He said that Israel’s response to the riots was as non-lethal as it could have been, and may have even “saved lives” of innocent Palestinians.

Read in The Washington Free Beacon

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Grenell’s speech was part of a rally organized by UN Watch, a watchdog group that holds the UN and its agencies accountable to abide by the principles put forth in the UN Charter. The rally, which protested the anti-Israel bias at the UNHRC, drew 1,000 people and featured prominent speakers.

In addition to Grenell, UN Watch’s executive director Hillel Neuer, former director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry Dore Gold, and former MK Einat Wilf also spoke.

“The belief that a single country and a single people merit such attention on a permanent basis—this belief is motivated by one thing: anti-Semitism,” Grenell said. In particular, he singled out the council’s Agenda Item 7, which is “a permanent directive to debate the human rights record of Israel at every council session.” No other country is subject to such scrutiny.

Grenell also questioned how it was that members of the council could sit in judgment over Israel when they themselves didn’t adhere to the basic principles of the UN Charter. Instead, states on the council criminalized LGBT conduct, and in many of them “violence against women” is widespread, Grenell charged.

He called on the council to demand that its member states promote “universal respect for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, including women and LGBT persons, without distinction of any kind.”

While the institutional bias against Israel was the reason for the rally, on Monday, a commission of inquiry into Israel’s handling of the violent Hamas-orchestrated riots known as the Great March of Return accused Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The New York Times reported that the commission’s “investigation found only two occasions that they deemed Israeli troops’ use of lethal force lawful. The report insisted that the protesters were overwhelmingly unarmed civilians.”

Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, told the commission, “I have observed the violent demonstrations on the Gaza border many times, from the front lines — unlike you Mr. Chairman, and your commission, who have never been there. These are organized efforts to break through the fence and slaughter Jewish civilians. Hamas also set out to induce the IDF to kill Gaza civilians, to instigate global condemnation of Israel.”

He also said that testimony he had provided to the commission was omitted from their report.

A study produced by the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs reviewed the IDF’s conduct in countering the violent riots.

“Hamas relied extensively on the prevalent but mistaken public tendency to use images of the effects of combat to determine whether use of force was justified. Hamas did so precisely because such snapshots – literal and metaphorical – provide little or none of the complex context in which the legality of a decision to use force must be made,” the study explained. “Specifically, such images obscure Hamas’ violations of international law that intentionally exposed civilians to potential harm in the first place.”

One of the authors of the study, Lieutenant Colonel (ret.) Geoffrey S. Corn, who is currently a professor at South Texas College of Law, told the commission, “By omitting from the UNHRC inquiry reports of the use of human shields by Hamas, the report incentivizes these terror tactics in the future, and the risk posed to the civilian population of Gaza is exacerbated. If we are really concerned about mitigating harm done to civilians, we should be condemning Hamas’ actions and this report.”

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“This U.N. report is on its face absurd and dishonest and we know because they have been doing it for a long time,” the Texas Republican said on a telephone call Monday hosted by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. “Hamas and Hezbollah use human shields as a deliberate tactic. They use innocent Palestinian civilians, to put them in harm’s way, because they intend to exploit those human shields for when they are injured or killed when Israel defends itself.”

The United Nations Human Rights Council determined in the report, released Monday, that Israel used “excessive force” during the nine-month period in question. Over that time, Israeli security forces shot and wounded 6,016 protesters in Gaza and “there was no justification” for Israel’s use of force. The report did acknowledge Hamas encouraged Palestinian protesters to cause use incendiary kites, which caused “fear among civilians and significant damage to property in southern Israel.”

“The United Nations long has been a reservoir of deep anti-Israel animus,” Cruz continued. “This report today is yet another example of that.” (RELATED: Ted Cruz Explains Why Interventionist And Isolationists Are Both Wrong)

The Human Rights Council adopted a resolution in May 2018 after President Donald Trump relocated the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that inspired thousands of Palestinians to riot and ultimately storm the Gaza-Israel border.

Hamas preemptively offered compensation to the families of Palestinians who were injured or killed during the demonstration — a spokesperson for the terrorist organization revealed the payment rates would be as high as $3,000, reported The Jerusalem Post. Humans were also reportedly used as shields, a concept that Cruz acknowledged.

“It is a repeated and deliberate strategy of Hamas to use human shields,” the Texas senator said. “The U.N. report ignores that reality.”

United States officials have maintained Israeli Defense Forces acted appropriately.

“America stands with Israel for many reasons, but none more important than standing with Israel furthers our own national security interests,” Cruz added.

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The U.N. Commission of Inquiry submitted a report to the UNHRC on March 18 concluding that Israel had violated international law for using “lethal force” against civilian protester during the Gaza border riots.

In a conference call later in the day with reporters organized by the Jewish Institute for National Security in America (JINSA), Cruz said that the report failed to acknowledge the fact “that both Hamas and Hezbollah use human shields as a tactic.

“They intend to exploit those human shields for when they are injured or killed when Israel defends itself,” Cruz said, arguing that Hamas knows that the media and the “useful idiots” at the United Nations will use the civilian deaths to attack Israel.

Cruz highlighted a May 17 New York Times headline that read, “‘Israel kills dozens at Gaza border as US embassy opens in Jerusalem” as an example of Hamas exploiting civilian deaths to create anti-Israel propaganda.

“The actual fact is that there were riots and violent attacks at Israel’s borders,” Cruz said, pointing out that the rioters, many of whom were Hamas terrorists, threw grenades, burning tires, and fiery kites in attempt to terrorize Israeli border towns. Hamas even acknowledged that they were behind these violent acts, Cruz said.

“And yet in the New York Times coverage, it was not acknowledged,” Cruz said.

Cruz also noted an instance in 2014 where Hamas used the basement of a Gaza hospital as their headquarters for operations, putting the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) “in an impossible situation” of choosing between letting Hamas operate there and continue terrorizing Israelis or risk civilian deaths by attacking the hospital that are then used by the media and the United Nations “to demonize and attack Israel.”

The report, Cruz contended, is yet another example of how “the United Nations has long been a reservoir of deep anti-Israel animus.” He said that the United States “has real skin in this game because the enemies of Israel are also the enemies of America” and that media coverage and the U.N. failing to acknowledge Hamas’ use of human shields increases the likelihood that the same strategy could be used against American troops. Cruz added that the U.S. receives “immense benefits” from Israel’s military and intelligence in fighting against those enemies.

“Truth is powerful,” Cruz said. “There is a reason why New York Times and other media outlets disseminate propaganda and lie.”

“I believe truth is stronger than lies and light is stronger than darkness,” Cruz said.

Following Cruz on the call was South Texas College of Law Professor Geoffrey Corn, who argued that the UNHRC report was based on two premises: That Hamas terrorists participating in the riots still counted as “civilians” and that the riots only constituted as an “imminent threat” if rioters breached the border. Corn said that it would be “very difficult” for the IDF “to let that border be breached and then try and close the breach.”

“The IDF didn’t take the position that every breach of the fence qualified as an imminent threat, but there must have been moments” where it concluded otherwise,” Corn said.

He added that use of force against an enemy like Hamas must be “robust” as opposed to a civilian.

Following Corn was retired U.S. Commander John Bird, who praised the IDF for thoroughly practicing the rules of engagement to minimize civilian deaths and that they were “policing themselves” on the matter, even going to outside legal avenues if they were concerned that mistakes were made. He also argued that the IDF “saved more lives” by preventing Hamas terrorists from breaching the border and attacking Israeli border towns.

“I think the U.N. played into the Hamas strategy of this hybrid warfare… that Israelis are on the wrong side of international law,” Bird said.

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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz delivered that rebuke hours after a commission appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council reported that Israeli forces “killed and gravely injured” dozens of civilians over a nine-month period last year. The clashes arose form protests against the relocation of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, as President Trump’s decision inspired a “Great March of Return” by thousands of Palestinians who sought to breach a border fence between Israel and Gaza. The most intense confrontations took place on the day of the Jerusalem embassy opening, which resulted in a U.N. rebuke.

“The Commission found reasonable grounds to believe that during these weekly demonstrations, the Israeli Security Forces (ISF) killed and gravely injured civilians who were neither participating directly in hostilities nor posing an imminent threat to life,” the U.N. investigators said. “[T]he use of lethal force in response was rarely necessary or proportionate.”

The report said 29 of the dead “were members of organized armed groups, with another 18 of undetermined status.” That’s a fraction of the 183 people killed and the 6100 wounded between March 30 and Dec. 31. “Unless undertaken lawfully in self-defense, intentionally killing a civilian not directly participating in hostilities is a war crime. Serious human rights violations were committed which may amount to crimes against humanity,” the report said. Hamas, a designated terrorist group, announced about 50 of the individuals killed when the U.S. Embassy opened on May 14 were militants.

“This U.N. report is on its face absurd and dishonest and we know because they have been doing it for a long time,” Cruz said Monday on a call hosted by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America. “Hamas and Hezbollah use human shields as a deliberate tactic. They use innocent Palestinian civilians, to put them in harm’s way, because they intend to exploit those human shields for when they are injured or killed when Israel defends itself.”

U.S. officials defended Israeli tactics at the time by noting that Hamas was urging protesters “to burst through the fence” and race into Israeli communities. The protest is “the latest form of the broader phenomenon of hybrid warfare,” JINSA argued Monday in a rebuttal of the U.N. finding.

“Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza intermixed their own belligerent operatives in these crowds and exploited them as passive shields and a tactical cover for their operatives to approach and attempt to breach the border fence,” the JINSA report said. “Any breach would enable attacks on Israeli security personnel and Israeli civilian communities near the border.”

The U.N. finding maintained that international law barred most uses of lethal force at the border fence. “For lethal force to be permissible, the victim must pose an imminent threat to life or limb,” the investigators wrote. “Imminent means impending or ‘immediately antecedent, presently exercised or ongoing’ not speculative. For a threat to be imminent the attacker should have no remaining preparatory steps and should be in sufficient geographic proximity for the attack to succeed.”

Trump’s administration withdrew the United States from the U.N. Human Rights Council last June, citing anti-Israel bias at the organization.

“The United Nations long has been a reservoir of deep anti-Israel animus and this report today is yet another example of that,” Cruz said.

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