Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) is pressing the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to explain its "shocking failure to condemn the terrorists of Hamas," blasting the international organization for its "moral blindness" and "obscene penchant for targeting and smearing Israel."
Cotton, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, instructed the council to explain why it continues to call Hamas terrorists "Palestinian armed groups," a term the senator says is meant to whitewash its ongoing crimes.
"While you preen as the moral voice of the world, you’ve refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization and repeatedly drawn a false equivalence between Hamas and Israel," Cotton wrote to UNHRC high commissioner Volker Türk in a Tuesday letter, according to a copy obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. "You and your United Nations colleagues should immediately and unequivocally call Hamas what it is: a terrorist organization."
The letter comes after Hamas claimed responsibility for the torture and murder last week of six hostages, including one American citizen, who were held in the intricate tunnel system running underneath the Gaza Strip. Shortly after the mass killing, the UNHRC issued a statement attributing the slaughter to "Palestinian armed groups," even though Hamas had already claimed responsibility.
"Although you professed that you were ‘horrified’ by the executions, you failed even to mention Hamas as the murderer and called for an ‘independent’ investigation into the killing," Cotton wrote. "Hamas had already admitted to these barbaric murders, so I’m not sure what such an investigation would prove."
"Moral blindness," he added, "unfortunately seems to be your modus operandi—never more evident than in your statement earlier this month after Hamas executed six hostages."
It is the latest in a string of comments by U.N. bodies and leaders that have portrayed Hamas as a legitimate resistance organization fighting against Israeli oppression. Since Hamas conducted its Oct. 7 terror spree in Israel, sparking an all-out war in the Gaza Strip, the UNHRC has called for an arms embargo on the Jewish state, accusing it of genocide, war crimes, and intentionally starving innocent Gazans. As the U.N. kicks off its annual general assembly this week in New York City, it is facing mounting criticism for ignoring Hamas’s crimes and doing little to secure the release of Israeli hostages who are being tortured by the terror group.
Cotton is demanding the UNHRC explicitly state whether or not it believes Hamas is a terrorist organization.
"Please respond to this letter no later than September 17," he wrote. "To make it very easy for you, I’ll happily accept a letter that says nothing more than ‘Hamas is a terrorist organization’ between the salutation and the signature line."
While multiple U.N. bodies have steadily streamed anti-Israel propaganda since Oct. 7, the UNHRC is seen as one of the worst offenders. The majority of its resolutions target Israel for alleged war crimes but make no mention of Hamas’s terror activities.
The organization is currently promoting a bevy of supposed human rights priorities that mainly include criticism of Israel’s war conduct and an investigation into businesses operating in "Israeli settlements."
"Your office especially has shown contempt for Israel, repeatedly posting criticisms of Israel on your official social-media accounts and falsely accusing Israel of war crimes," Cotton wrote. "Your moral equivalence between brutal terrorists and a nation-state protecting its citizens is appalling. You have painted Israel as the aggressor while ignoring that Hamas bears responsibility for civilian deaths in Gaza."
In addition to the UNHRC, top officials like Francesca Albanese, the special rapporteur for the West Bank and Gaza Strip, have blamed Israel for the Oct. 7 attack and claimed it is "not a crime" to kill Israeli soldiers. Albanese is scheduled to conduct a Sept. 16 talk at Brown University titled, "Anatomy of a Genocide: A Failure of the International System?"