U.S. Threatens To Quit UN Human Rights Council Over Resolutions Condemning Israel

US steps up threat to quit UN rights body as 5 new anti-Israel resolutions pass

The United States warned Friday that it was losing patience and again threatened to quit the UN Human Rights Council after the Geneva-based body adopted five resolutions condemning Israel.

US Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement that the council was “grossly biased against Israel,” noting that it had adopted only three resolutions separately targeting North Korea, Iran and Syria.

“When the Human Rights Council treats Israel worse than North Korea, Iran and Syria, it is the council itself that is foolish and unworthy of its name,” said Haley.

“Our patience is not unlimited. Today’s actions make clear that the organization lacks the credibility needed to be a true advocate for human rights,” she said.

Haley has over the past year repeatedly warned that the United States was ready to walk away from the 47-member body established in 2006 to promote and protect human rights worldwide.

The five resolutions were presented by the countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation under the council’s “Item 7” which requires a report on Israeli actions in the West Bank each time the panel convenes.

Israel is the only country that has a dedicated agenda item at the council, a mechanism that the United States and some European countries have criticized.

In February, Haley criticized a report by the UN’s high commissioner for human rights on 206 companies with ties to Israeli settlement. Israeli officials have described the report as a “blacklist” and said it is part of an effort to boycott the Jewish state.

“This whole issue is outside the bounds of the High Commissioner for Human Rights office’s mandate and is a waste of time and resources,” Haley said in a statement at the time.

The report was in response to a resolution adopted in 2016 by the UN Human Rights Council that called for the creation of a database of all companies doing business with the Israeli settlements, which the United Nations considers illegal under international law.

The latest threat to quit the council came after US President Donald Trump appointed UN-skeptic John Bolton as his national security adviser.

Since Trump took over at the White House, the United States has quit the UN cultural agency UNESCO, cut UN funding and announced plans to quit the UN-backed Paris climate agreement.