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Why the U.S. Should Withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council

(Newsweek) Michael Oren - Would the U.S. remain a member of an organization that condemned it for human rights abuses more frequently than it did Syria, North Korea, and Iran? Yet, the U.S. is currently a member of the UN Human Rights Council that does precisely that to Israel, America's foremost democratic Middle Eastern ally. Over the past nine years, the UNHRC has condemned Israel 61 times, as opposed to its 16 resolutions on Syria and five on Iran. Denunciations of Israel outnumber those of all other countries combined. Repelled by this bigotry, the Bush Administration refrained from appointing an ambassador to the council. That decision was reversed by President Obama, however, who believed that a U.S. presence on the body could redress some of its injustices, including that toward Israel. Yet, throughout the Obama years, UNHRC denouncements of Israel only multiplied. A return to America's previous boycott of the council would be warmly welcomed by Israel. The fact that the U.S. not only helps fund this racist body but is formally represented on it, should be reprehensible to all Americans. Withdrawal from the council would reaffirm America's determination to stand up to hatred against Jews and any ethnic, racial, or religious groups. Quitting the UNHRC would send a moral message to the world. The writer, deputy minister for diplomacy in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, served as Israel's ambassador to the U.S. from 2009 to 2013.
2017-03-16 00:00:00
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