George Clooney’s Fiancee Turns Down U.N. Gaza ‘War Crimes’ Panel

Image by Getty Images
Amal Alamuddin, the British attorney engaged to actor George Clooney, declined her nomination to serve on a U.N. panel investigating Israel for possible war crimes in Gaza.
Alamuddin attributed her decision to “prior professional commitments,” she said, adding she “regrets that the commission will not benefit from her expertise in the field,” The Gulf Today reported Tuesday. Her nomination by the United Nations Human Rights Council to the three-person commission had been announced the previous day. Despite rejecting the position, Alamuddin said there should be an “independent investigation and accountability for crimes that have been committed,” according to The Daily Mail.
The commission will be chaired by William Schabas, a Canadian international law professor who has been accused of bias against Israel.
Schabas has been asked to recuse himself by UN Watch, a nongovernmental organization that monitors the international body. Israel’s Foreign Ministry said his nomination “proves beyond any doubt that Israel cannot expect justice from this body, and that the committee’s report is already written.”
In his defense, Schabas told public radio, according to The Gulf Today, “I’ve frequently lectured in Israel, at universities in Israel, I’m a member of the editorial board of the Israel Law Review, I wouldn’t do those things if I was anti-Israel.”
Schabas said the investigation will examine both parties in the conflict, Israelis and Palestinian militants.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Opinion The dangerous Nazi legend behind Trump’s ruthless grab for power
- 2
Opinion A Holocaust perpetrator was just celebrated on US soil. I think I know why no one objected.
- 3
Culture Did this Jewish literary titan have the right idea about Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling after all?
- 4
Opinion I first met Netanyahu in 1988. Here’s how he became the most destructive leader in Israel’s history.
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward Trump administration restores student visas, but impact on pro-Palestinian protesters is unclear
-
Fast Forward Deborah Lipstadt says Trump’s campus antisemitism crackdown has ‘gone way too far’
-
Fast Forward 5 Jewish senators accuse Trump of using antisemitism as ‘guise’ to attack universities
-
Fast Forward Jewish Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky reportedly to retire after 26 years in office
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.