Shurat HaDin: FRC report rejecting Gaza famine exposes UN bigotry, undermines ICC prosecution claim

In late May 2024, the Famine Review Committee (FRC) published its updated report on behalf of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), the premier global famine monitoring initiative structured as a partnership between governments, international organizations, and NGOs. The report rejected FEWS NET (Famine Early Warning System Network) claims of Gaza famine, determining that these reports bluntly ignored “between as much as 38% to 49%” of food deliveries to Gaza and concluding that it “does not find the FEWS NET analysis plausible.” This report was ignored by UN agencies, including the World Health Organization, which continued to echo the “Gaza famine” campaign. Even upon publishing this report, the UN ignored its main conclusion rejecting the Gaza famine.

“The FRC report serves as a wake-up call, revealing – once again – the deep bias and obsession by UN agencies with Israel,” said Nitsana Darshan Leitner, founder and president of Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center, adding that “Miscalculating almost 50% of food supply into Gaza cannot be a minor mishap. It is clearly deliberate, exactly as bluntly ignoring this expert report – once already filed – by UN agencies. The UN is simply saying to us: “Don’t let the facts come in the way of demonizing Israel.”

Darshan Leitner emphasized that “this report does more than just expose UN bigotry: it also undermines the ICC prosecutor’s claims that Israel is deliberately using starvation as a method of warfare against the Gazan population. The ICC’s next steps will reveal its true colors. If the Prosecutor wishes to save anything left from the ICC’s reputation, he should quickly reconsider his actions, pull back his request for arrest warrants, and publish a formal apology. If he or the Pre-Trial Chamber chooses to ignore it and continue their modern “Dreyfus Affair” antisemitic blood libel against Israel, they will bury the remaining ICC credibility with it.”