Texas Senator Ted Cruz condemned a recent U.N. report accusing Israel of genocide, warning of potential sanctions against those involved in the allegations.
Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz has voiced strong criticism of a new United Nations report that accuses Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. He cautioned that the Trump administration and Congress possess the necessary tools to impose sanctions on those responsible for the report.
The report, released on Tuesday by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory (COI), asserts that “the State of Israel bears responsibility for the failure to prevent genocide, the commission of genocide, and the failure to punish genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
In a statement to Fox News Digital, Cruz remarked, “This latest announcement by the United Nations is no different than any of the other antisemitic smears and libels that have been leveled against Israel in their ongoing response to Hamas’ atrocities on October 7.” He emphasized that this campaign undermines American national security interests by diminishing Israel’s ability to act against Hamas terrorists, who have killed Americans, and by fueling international legal actions against Israel that could also affect American servicemembers and citizens.
Cruz concluded his statement by urging the Republican Trump administration and Congress to utilize the tools and sanctions they have developed to address these threats.
Anne Bayefsky, director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and president of Human Rights Voices, also criticized the U.N. report. She described it as promoting genocide against Jews and argued that it rationalizes the crimes against humanity committed by Hamas and other Palestinians on October 7. Bayefsky contended that the report diminishes the severity of the mass murder, rape, torture, and trauma inflicted on Israelis by suggesting that not enough Jews were harmed to pose an “existential threat” to Israel.
Bayefsky pointed out that the COI has been previously accused of omitting critical facts in its reporting and noted that the report fails to make any recommendations for Hamas. She highlighted that the report mentions Hamas’s tunnel network, which played a crucial role in the October 7 attacks, only in the context of criticizing Israel.
Salo Aizenberg, director of the media watchdog group HonestReporting, challenged the COI’s claim that Israel has imposed measures intended to prevent births. He questioned, “If Israel truly aimed to destroy Gaza’s population, why did it allow WHO teams earlier in 2025 to vaccinate 603,000 children under age 10 — matching pre-October 7 numbers?” Aizenberg also pointed out that the report overlooks the fact that over 20,000 fatalities in Gaza are fighters from Hamas and other armed groups, thereby obscuring the true dynamics of the conflict.
The COI report calls for Israel to “ensure full, unimpeded access of humanitarian aid at scale” and to “end the distribution of food aid through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.” It cites the commissioner-general of the controversial U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), who has described the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as “an abomination” and “a death trap” that is “costing more lives than it saves.”
Recent U.N. statistics indicate that between July 21 and August 18, there were double the number of deaths along U.N. convoy routes (576) compared to those surrounding GHF sites (259). Furthermore, only 14.5% of U.N. aid trucks sent into Gaza have reached their intended destinations since May due to armed looting and theft. During the same period, GHF has managed to distribute 165 million meals to Palestinians at its secure distribution sites.
GHF released a statement asserting that the COI published its report “without ever contacting” the organization, labeling its statements as “falsehoods that could have been easily corrected had we been asked.” The organization emphasized that there have been no shootings at its sites and that claims, particularly those alleging that children have been shot, are “not only false” but also “reckless.”
While the COI currently assigns specific blame to three Israeli officials for alleged genocide, COI member Chris Sidoti stated in a press conference that “there are many, many statements by Israeli political and civilian leaders that incite genocide, and also by others, including some media commentators in Israel, that have been inciting genocide.”
In response to inquiries regarding Sidoti’s remarks, Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, did not clarify whether these comments were directed at Israel’s media. Guterres stated that “it is not in the attributions of the Secretary-General to do the legal determination of genocide. That belongs to the adequate judicial entities, namely, the International Court of Justice.” He added, “the truth is that this is something that it is morally, politically, and legally intolerable.”
Bayefsky remarked that “U.S. law withholds funds for the COI, but clearly it has not had the intended impact.” She argued that it is “high time” to take more significant actions to mitigate the dangers that the U.N. and its COI pose to both the United States and Israel.
Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department to inquire whether it plans to sanction COI members or prevent their travel to the U.N. for the upcoming General Assembly debate, but did not receive a response by press time. A spokesperson for the COI also did not respond to questions regarding its report.
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