(October 27, 2022 - Washington, DC)
The United Nations has a long history of anti-Israel bias, but it has reached a new low in its collective and ongoing Israel Derangement Syndrome.
In May 2021, the United Nations Human Rights Council created the Commission of Inquiry (COI) targeting Israel for its perceived war crimes during Operation Guardian of the Walls (OGW), one more defensive war requiring Israel to protect itself against Hamas’ missiles and rockets. Unlike prior UN investigations of Israel however, the COI’s expansive jurisdiction covered not just OGW but all events prior to that time and provided for an examination of the “root causes” of the conflict including “systemic discrimination” based on race. This unprecedented commission was established as a witch hunt of alleged Israeli atrocities and its judge and jury had established guilt years before OGW.
The COI’s mandate extends indefinitely and is seeded with viral anti-Israel haters including its chair, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, a supporter of the antisemitic boycott, divestment, and sanctions campaign who has libeled Israel with labels of “apartheid” and condemned “the extremist Israel lobby.” Impartiality and fairness did not enter the equation when the UNHRC established the COI – what did enter the calculus was how to once again demonize, marginalize and ostracize Israel on the international stage and in the hearts and minds of the community of nations that have held steadfast in their support of the only democratic and free nation in the Middle East where individuals of all backgrounds, nationalities, religions, and races are welcome and embraced.
It is therefore not surprising, although no less disturbing that the COI’s recent report released this month convicted Israel of all sorts of atrocities that would, in the mind of any rational, knowledgeable and non-Jew-hating individual, be considered blood libels. Having previously accused Israel of “war crimes” in an earlier June report, the recent report now accuses Israel of “violating international law.” No mention of Palestinian terrorism or its Jewish victims. That’s because when the COI issued a “call for submissions,” it ignored the over five million unique submissions that were substantiated with factual testimony and evidence in support of just the opposite of the aim of the COI – that Jewish Israelis were the victims of untold human rights abused, atrocities and discrimination. Instead, the COI based its report on lies submitted by Israel-haters who made up horrific stories of atrocities without any evidence to back them up. As one would expect in any witch hunt, facts were ignored and the submissions in support of Israel were summarily discarded with Pillay stating, “I’ve not seen them” and “all of them would be pro-Israel.”
This commission, and the UNHRC, an organization that protects, elevates, and provides stature and cover to human rights abusers and dictators the world over and that birthed the COI must be shut down. According to Wikipedia, as of 2013, 45 resolutions condemning Israel have been passed by the UNHRC and since the UNHRC’s creation in 2006, “it has resolved almost more resolutions condemning Israel alone than on issues for the rest of the world combined.” Furthermore, according to the non-profit organization UN Watch, in the 76th session of the UN General Assembly (2021-2022), and consistent with prior years, the UNGA adopted 14 resolutions against Israel and only 5 against other countries of the world. In fact, the UNGA failed to introduce a single resolution this past year on the human rights situation in China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, or Algeria.
There is a reason why President Donald Trump withdrew from the UNHRC in 2018. Not only did President George W. Bush’s UN Ambassador John Bolton oppose the creation of the UNHRC but President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, criticized it for its “relentless, pathological campaign” against Israel, stating that it was “an organization that is not worthy of its name.” At the press conference announcing the 2018 US withdrawal, Ambassador Haley stated, “We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights.” Standing beside her, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo added, The Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights.”
Unfortunately, one of President Biden’s first actions when entering office was to reverse the Trump policy of ostracizing the antisemitic and anti-human rights UNHRC and chose to rejoin this abhorrent and embarrassing organization – and it did so proudly with Secretary of State Blinken tweeting, “When it works well, the @UN Human Rights Council shines a spotlight on countries with the worst human rights records and can serve as a beacon for those fighting against injustice and tyranny. That’s why the U.S. is back at the table.”
What say you now Secretary Blinken? Will you and President Biden stand by the true beacon that fights on the front lines against injustice and tyranny, our most important ally, Israel, or will you stand with the UNHRC and the countries who sit on that council who actually do have the worst human rights records? The choice is a simple moral one to make. It’s time for the U.S. to withdraw- permanently - from the UNHRC.
Said EMET Founder and President Sarah Stern,
“The extremely biased, one-sided report just issued by the UN Human Rights Council, which is composed of such illustrious bastions of human rights as China, Venezuela, Libya, Somalia and Sudan is reflective of the “kangaroo court” that is today’s United Nations. This self-appointed tribunal of moral authorities never once mentioned the wave upon wave of terrorist attacks, missiles, bombs, car rammings and knife stabbings that the citizens of Israel have had to endure for decade upon decade. There is no mention whatsoever of these deadly attacks inflicted, year after year, upon the innocent civilians living within the state of Israel.
According to Article 51 of the United Nations Charter, there is an inherent “right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations.” Yet, when terrorists, who even lack the status of nations, wage bloody attacks against Israeli citizens, the United Nation Human Rights Council simply turns a blind eye. The United Nations was founded upon lofty principles, but within just a few short decades it has degenerated into a self-appointed mob-oriented tribunal that ignores the fundamental human rights of decency and justice that this institution was founded upon.”
EMET is a Washington D.C.-based foreign policy institute, which specializes in the Middle East.
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