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Israel Gets Singular Focus at UN Rights Body
(AP-New York Times) Wars in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have killed hundreds of thousands of people. Enforced disappearances, torture and extremist attacks infringe on human rights worldwide. But only one country has its record inspected at every single session of the UN Human Rights Council: Israel. Both Israel, a democracy in a difficult neighborhood full of enemies, and the U.S. decry what they see as an entrenched bias in UN institutions and an obsession with the Palestinian issue at the expense of other crises around the globe. Of 233 country-specific HRC resolutions in the last decade, more than a quarter - 65 - focus on Israel. Syria, where since 2011 at least 250,000 have been killed and over 10 million displaced, was the subject of 19 resolutions. David Keyes, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's spokesman, said, "Imagine that. A country with free speech, free elections and minority rights is condemned more than mass murdering dictatorships like North Korea, Iran and Syria."