Head of Israeli rights group accuses Israel of pursuing 'Jewish supremacy' since its founding

The executive director of the Israeli rights group B'Tselem condemned Israel's actions over the past 11 months in the Gaza Strip, accusing it of pursuing a goal of "Jewish supremacy" since its founding.

"To understand the Israeli government's criminal conduct over the last 11 months, you have to understand the overall goal of this regime. Since Israel was founded, its guiding logic has been to promote Jewish supremacy over the entire territory under its control," Yuli Novak virtually told the UN Security Council on Wednesday during a session on Palestine.

Novak criticized the government for exploiting the collective trauma from the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel by Hamas "to violently advance its project of cementing Israeli control over the entire land."

She said that Israel's ongoing war on the Palestinian people includes daily war crimes in Gaza manifesting as "expulsion, starvation, killing and destruction on an unprecedented scale."

The Israeli activist described these actions as going beyond ideological agendas, making Gaza "inhabitable."

Novak cited B'Tselem's recent report titled "Welcome to Hell," which documents a pattern of abuse amounting to torture on Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

"The government of Israel has used the war to turn Israeli prisons into a network of torture camps for Palestinians. This violence is possible because Israel has enjoyed impunity for decades," she added.

Criticizing the international community for failing to intervene and protect civilians from "Israel's criminal policy of massive harm to civilians in Gaza," she said that "now this cruel policy is spilling over into the West Bank."

She further called on the Council to address the International Court of Justice's findings on the illegality of Israel's occupation and settlement activities.

"Every day that this council does not act on the court's call to end the occupation and apartheid is another day you are abandoning us, the people of this land, who are suffering and dying in tens of thousands needlessly under a cruel and unjust apartheid regime," she said.