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PARIS: An M23 rebel attack on farmers and other civilians in east Democratic Republic of Congo killed 169 people earlier this month, a UN body told Reuters, in what would be one of the deadliest incidents since the Rwanda-backed group’s resurgence.

M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa told Reuters it would investigate but the report could be a “smear campaign.”

The UN rights body’s account has not been previously reported and emerged as US President Donald Trump’s administration pushes for peace between Congo and Rwanda that it hopes will unlock billions in mineral investments.

Reuters has not been able to independently confirm the killings but a local activist cited witnesses as describing M23 combatants using guns and machetes to kill scores of civilians.

The M23 and Congolese government have pledged to work toward peace by August 18 after the rebels this year seized more territory than ever before in fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands more.

According to findings by the UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO), which monitors Congo, the M23 operation that led to the farmers’ killings began on July 9 in the Rutshuru territory of North Kivu province.

It targeted suspected members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a Congo-based group that includes remnants of Rwanda’s former army and militias that carried out the 1994 Rwandan genocide, UNJHRO said.

“Civilians, mainly farmers temporarily camping in their fields for the plowing season, have been attacked. The human toll has been particularly high: at least 169 people have been killed,” UNJHRO said in findings shared by Reuters.

The victims were “far from any immediate support or protection,” UNJHRO said, citing credible information from several independent sources.

In response, M23’s Bisimwa said the group had been notified about UNJHRO’s findings in a letter and would form a commission to investigate the unconfirmed accusations.

“We believe that before imposing sanctions, the facts must first be established by verifying their actual existence through an investigation,” he said.

“This rush to publish unverified information is propaganda whose purpose is known only to the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office,” he said, adding that the allegations could be part of a “smear campaign” by Congolese employees of UNJHRO.

UNJHRO is made up of the human rights division of Congo’s UN peacekeeping mission and the former office of the UN high commissioner for human rights in Congo.

It has both Congolese and foreign staff members.

HUTU FARMERS TARGETED
The activist in Rutshuru, who did not want to be named for safety reasons, told Reuters the M23 combatants killed more than 100 civilians, mostly Congolese Hutu farmers.

The victims had initially fled when M23 advanced on the territory, but they returned after M23 promised them safety, the activist said.

UN human rights chief Volker Turk said last month that M23, Congo’s army and allied militias had all committed abuses in eastern Congo, many of which may amount to war crimes.

Rwanda has long denied helping M23 and says its forces act in self-defense against Congo’s army and ethnic Hutu militiamen linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide, including the FDLR.

A report by a group of United Nations experts published this month said Rwanda exercised command and control over M23 and was backing the group in order to conquer territory in east Congo.

A government spokesperson said at the time that the report misrepresented Rwanda’s security worries related to the FDLR and affiliated groups. The spokesperson, Yolande Makolo, did not respond to a request for comment about UNJHRO’s findings.

Persistent violence in eastern Congo threatens Trump’s vision for the region, which has been plagued by war for decades and is rich in minerals including gold, cobalt, coltan, tungsten and tin.

A peace agreement signed on June 27 in Washington by the Congolese and Rwandan foreign ministers requires Congo to “neutralize” the FDLR as Rwanda withdraws from Congolese territory.

Both the Congolese operations against the FDLR and the Rwandan withdrawal were supposed to have started on Sunday, though it is unclear what progress has been made.

They have three months to conclude.

Congolese government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya told Reuters the killings in Rutshuru demonstrate that M23 is a destabilising force incapable of bringing security.

Kinshasa wants a peace deal that will allow for the restoration of its authority in the region, Muyaya said.

For most Jewish Americans, whatever their political persuasion, support for Israel has been a bedrock principle. Thus it’s notable that a broad swath of US Jews — reacting to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza — have been urging the Israeli government to do more to ensure the delivery of food and medicine.
There is no overwhelming consensus. On the left, some US Jews contend that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is guilty of genocide. On the right, some conservative Jewish news outlets have suggested that the widely verified food crisis in Gaza is a hoax.
What is clear is that the ranks of American Jews alarmed by the current conditions in Gaza have swelled and now include major organizations that customarily avoid critiques of Israeli policies.
What are major Jewish organizations saying?
The American Jewish Committee — a prominent advocacy group that strives to broadly represent Jews in the US and abroad — stressed in its statement that it “stands with Israel in its justified war to eliminate the threat posed by Hamas.”
“At the same time, we feel immense sorrow for the grave toll this war has taken on Palestinian civilians, and we are deeply concerned about worsening food insecurity in Gaza,” said the AJC, urging Israel and other key parties “to increase cooperation and coordination in order to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches Palestinian civilians in Gaza.”
The Rabbinical Assembly, a New York-based organization representing rabbis of the Conservative Movement, sounded a similar note.
“Even as we believe Hamas could end this suffering immediately through the release of the hostages and care for its civilian population, the Israeli government must do everything in its power to ensure humanitarian aid reaches those in need,” the assembly said. “The Jewish tradition calls upon us to ensure the provision of food, water, and medical supplies as a top priority.
Rabbi Moshe Hauer, executive vice president of the Orthodox Union, told The Associated Press he and his colleagues “are proud, sad, and angry. ”
“We remain proud of Israel and its army, the only moral fighting force in the region striving to abide by internationally accepted laws of war,” he said via email. “We are genuinely sad about the mounting human costs which — as intended by Hamas — this war is inflicting on Israelis and innocent Palestinians. And we are angry at those who only ascribe to Israel the worst intentions and all responsibility while ignoring Hamas’ inhumanity.”
Of major nationwide organizations, perhaps the most vehement statement came from the Reform Jewish Movement, which represents the largest branch of Judaism in the US
“Hamas has repeatedly demonstrated its willingness to sacrifice the Palestinian people in its pursuit of Israel’s destruction, but Israel must not sacrifice its own moral standing in return,” the Reform statement said.
“No one should be unaffected by the pervasive hunger experienced by thousands of Gazans,” it continued. “Nor should we accept arguments that because Hamas is the primary reason many Gazans are either starving or on the verge of starving, that the Jewish State is not also culpable in this human disaster.”
Rabbis share their thoughts
Over the past few weeks, as images and reports of starvation and violence in Gaza dominated the news cycle, Rabbi Jon Roos felt a shift in how the Israel-Hamas war is discussed in Jewish circles.
“There was a real change in the tone of the conversation, but also in the depth and content of it,” said Roos, who leads Temple Sinai, a Reform synagogue in Washington, D.C. “I felt it from members of the congregation. I’ve felt it in the Jewish communal world.”
The clergy of Temple Sinai signed onto a letter with more than 1,000 Jewish clergy calling on the Israeli government to “allow extensive humanitarian aid” to enter Gaza. It stated that “we cannot condone the mass killings of civilians … or the use of starvation as a weapon of war.”
Roos said the Jewish community can hold two truths at once: that Oct. 7 was deplorable and so is the situation in Gaza.
“One of the critical parts of Judaism is that we really value that ability to hold nuance and two truths, even if they’re both incredibly challenging and self-critical,” Roos said.
Rabbi Aaron Weininger in Minnetonka, Minnesota, also signed the clergy letter. He leads Adath Jeshurun, a Conservative Jewish congregation.
“Zionism is big enough and strong enough to care about the safety, wellbeing, and dignity of Israelis and Palestinians. Naming their suffering doesn’t weaken Zionism nor does calling on members of the government not to occupy Gaza. Signing the letter honors Zionism as compassionate and just,” he wrote in an email.
The response of his community has been largely positive, with some disagreement — “both with the idea of publicly disagreeing with the Israeli government and with the characterization of suffering in Gaza,” he wrote. “But taking moral stands and holding disagreement have always been part of what it means to be a faith community.”
Voices of protest
On Tuesday, more than two dozen rabbis were arrested in the office of the Senate majority leader, John Thune, R-S.D., while demanding action by Congress to provide food aid for Gaza.
“All life is sacred, but Palestinian lives are not treated as such, and that is a blot on our collective humanity,” said one of the protesters, Alissa Wise, who is founding director of Rabbis for Ceasefire. “We are here to insist on the sanctity of life of every Palestinian, of every Israeli, of all of us.”
Also arrested was a New York-based rabbi, Andrue Kahn. He is executive director of the American Council for Judaism, which rejects the concept of Zionism.
In an email, Kahn said an increasing number of US Jews, including rabbis, are now more willing to speak out about Gaza’s plight and demand policy changes from Israel.
“The horrors of starvation of so many people … has led to the dam bursting for many people, and the political spectrum of those speaking out has broadened,” he wrote.
Defenders of Netanyahu’s policies
A Jewish member of Congress, Rep. Randy Fine, R-Fla., incurred criticism after suggesting in a post on X last week that the reports of a Gaza food crisis were false.
“Release the hostages. Until then, starve away. (This is all a lie anyway. It amazes me that the media continues to regurgitate Muslim terror propaganda.),” his post said.
Two US-based Jewish news outlets also have depicted the food crisis as exaggerated.
“The reality is clear — food and medicine are entering Gaza, but Hamas seizes them for its own purposes. The international community’s fixation on blaming Israel ignores this fundamental truth,” said an article in The Jewish Voice.
Supplementing its news articles making similar points, the Jewish News Syndicate on Wednesday ran a column by Mitchell Bard, executive director of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise.
“True supporters of Israel are not fair-weather friends who abandon their ally out of fear of what their friends will think of them or the need to feign moral superiority,” he wrote. “Israelis are not children in need of a public scolding from the Diaspora. They need solidarity, not sanctimony.”