Is Israel’s Human Rights Record Justified?

For decades, Israel has been a lightning rod for accusations of systematic human rights violations—a narrative that has been amplified in international forums, media discourse, and activist rhetoric. Yet, beneath the surface of these sweeping claims lies a far more complex and inconvenient truth: Israel exists in a region where existential threats are not theoretical but daily realities, where terror organizations openly seek its destruction, and where its citizens live under the shadow of relentless aggression.

Despite this, Israel remains not only a democracy committed to the rule of law but also a nation that upholds humanitarian principles—even when doing so requires extending aid to those who seek its downfall. To frame Israel as an aggressor while disregarding the moral and strategic dilemmas it faces is not only a gross distortion of reality but also a dangerous oversimplification that erodes any meaningful understanding of the conflict.

Critics accuse Israel of war crimes while ignoring the larger context: Israel is not fighting for conquest—it is fighting for survival. Hamas, the terror group controlling Gaza, launches rocket attacks from within civilian areas, using men, women, and children as human shields. This forces Israel to make an impossible choice—defend itself and risk civilian casualties or allow terrorists to attack its citizens with impunity. Few countries in the world have ever faced such a dilemma, and yet Israel takes extraordinary measures to minimize civilian harm. The IDF issues warnings before strikes—using text messages, phone calls, and leaflets to give people time to evacuate.

In 2014, during Operation Protective Edge, Israel targeted Hamas military infrastructure, and yet 70% of those killed were combatants, not civilians. Compare that to U.S. military operations in Iraq or Afghanistan—where civilian casualties were far higher—and the hypocrisy of Israel’s critics becomes clear.

If Israel were truly committing human rights abuses, would it go to such lengths to protect civilian lives?

The IDF is one of the most ethically guided militaries in the world, operating under strict rules of engagement to prevent unnecessary deaths. Meanwhile, Hamas uses schools, hospitals, and mosques as launch sites for rockets. The international community is largely silent on this—ignoring the fact that Hamas deliberately places Palestinian civilians in harm’s way.

Where is the outrage when Hamas fires thousands of rockets indiscriminately at Israeli cities like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem? Where are the human rights activists condemning the group that openly calls for the genocide of Jews? Instead, the world fixates on Israel, twisting self-defense into aggression and morality into crime.

Yet even under constant threat, Israel still provides aid to the people of Gaza. Every year, thousands of Palestinians receive life-saving medical treatment in Israeli hospitals. In 2019 alone, over 8,000 permits were granted for Palestinians to enter Israel for medical care. Despite repeated wars, Israel continues to supply Gaza with food, water, and electricity. What other nation at war with a hostile entity would do the same?

If Israel were truly guilty of human rights abuses, it would cut off all aid and leave its enemies to suffer. Instead, it does the opposite—it sustains the very people living under Hamas rule, even as Hamas fires rockets at Israeli civilians.

In the West Bank, Israel’s humanitarian efforts are similarly ignored. It provides advanced medical technology, infrastructure support, and clean water to Palestinian communities. And yet, in return, Israel faces terrorist attacks, international condemnation, and relentless efforts to delegitimize its existence.

The truth is that Israel’s enemies—Hamas, Hezbollah, and their Iranian backers—are not fighting for peace, democracy, or human rights. They are fighting for Israel’s destruction. But Israel, despite these threats, continues to hold itself to the highest moral standards.

The accusations against Israel rely on selective outrage. They focus on casualties while ignoring who is truly responsible for them. They condemn Israel’s military actions while ignoring the terrorism that forces Israel to act. They paint Israel as an oppressor while giving a free pass to the regimes and terror groups that systematically abuse human rights on a daily basis.

The real human rights violations are the use of human shields, the indoctrination of children into hatred, and the refusal of Israel’s enemies to recognize its right to exist.

No country is perfect. But if Israel—one of the freest, most democratic, and most humanitarian-driven nations in the world—is being labeled a human rights violator, then the term has lost all meaning. Israel does not fight because it wants to; it fights because it has no other choice. To accuse Israel of systematic abuses is not only misleading—it is a betrayal of the truth.

Israel’s human rights record is not the one that should be scrutinized. The real question is why the world continues to turn a blind eye to those who truly violate human rights—while condemning the one country in the Middle East that refuses to abandon them.