A Nov. 10 press release posted by the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner (“UN experts alarmed by rise in settler violence in occupied Palestinian territory“) begins:

UN human rights experts* have expressed alarm at the rising rate of violence directed by Israeli settlers towards Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory.

“Settler violence has always been an extremely disturbing feature of the Israeli occupation,” said the experts. “But in 2021, we are witnessing the highest recorded levels of violence in recent years and more severe incidents.

The asterisk next to the words “UN human right experts” refers those who bother with it to the following qualification at the bottom of the press release:

Michael Lynk,Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967.Jelena Aparac (Chair-Rapporteur), Ravindran Daniel, Chris Kwaja, Sorcha MacLeod, Working Group on the use of mercenaries.

The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

In other words, despite a headline shouting that “UN experts” are “alarmed by rising settler violence,” a very careful read indicates that the UN distances itself, albeit practically under the radar, from the so-called experts, noting they are “independent” from the organization. Thus, the press release trumpets the “experts” as the UN’s own even as it very inconspicuously downplays the authors’ association with the organization.

Though the footnote maintains that special rapporteurs are independent of any organization, Lynk has a long history of anti-Israel activity. In 2016, United Nations Watch detailed that Lynk plays a leadership role in numerous Arab lobby groups, including CEPAL, which promotes “Annual Israeli Apartheid Week” events; signs anti-Israel petitions; calls to prosecute Israel for alleged war crimes; addresses “One State” conferences that seek to eliminate Israel; and argues that “the solution” to “the problem” must go back to Israel’s very creation in 1948, which he calls “the start of ethnic cleansing.”

So much for the “UN experts” touted in the headline.

But that’s not the only deception about alleged rising settler violence achieved by the UN’s burying of key information. Without providing any additional details about the shocking incidents or their circumstances, the same UN press release makes the alarming statement: “Four Palestinians were killed by settlers this year.”

The press release appears to attribute that figure to United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Those determined to hunt down the facts about the four reported fatalities arrive at OCHA’s “Data on casualties.”

For whatever reason, however, OCHA conceals its data from the public, releasing it only to pre-approved representatives of “humanitarian agencies.” A request from this researcher to OCHA to receive access to the full data went unanswered. 

What exactly is OCHA hiding? Releasing details about the four fatalities – their names, dates and locations – would enable independent researchers and journalists to cross-check and verify or discount the information. 

But even OCHA’s partial data raises serious questions. Here’s where the UN’s propensity for burying critical information again comes into play.

Incidents involving Israeli settlers: includes attacks and alleged attacks by Israeli settlers, as well as incidents involving access prevention, and clashes following the entry of Israeli settlers into Palestinian communities. It also includes Palestinians killed or injured during attacks or alleged attacks they perpetrated against Israeli settlers.

In other words, omitted in the alarmist press release about alleged rising settler violence is the fact that the supposed victims who paid the ultimate price of settler attacks — “four Palestinians were killed by settlers this year” — were possibly assailants, and not the victims depicted by the United Nations.