(JTA) — The United States again threatened to leave the United Nations Human Rights Council after the international body passed five resolutions against Israel.
The Council in its Friday session also passed two resolutions against Syria, and one each against North Korea, Iran, South Sudan and Myanmar.
The resolutions passed against Israel dealt with “human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan,” the “right of the Palestinian people to self-determination,” the “human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,” the “Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan,” and “ensuring accountability and justice for all violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.”
The United States and Australia voted against all five resolutions critical of Israel.
“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,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said in a statement issued by the U.S. Diplomatic Mission. “It is time for the countries who know better to demand changes. Many countries agree that the Council’s agenda is grossly biased against Israel, but too few are willing to fight it. When that happens, as it did today, the Council fails to fulfill its duty to uphold human rights around the world.”
“The United States continues to evaluate our membership in the Human Rights Council,” Haley said. “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.”
Haley has been a frequent critic of the council since being confirmed as the U.N. ambassador in January 2017.
Israel also criticized the council. The Foreign Ministry on Saturday night called it “a sham, a mockery of the noble purposes it pretends to represent.” The council is “an exclusively anti-Israel platform, manipulated by bloodthirsty dictatorships hiding their own massive human rights violations by attacking Israel,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Emmanuel Nachshon said in a tweet.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority in recent days filed official requests to join eight international treaties, according to Israeli media reports, in a unilateral move designed to provide a future Palestinian state with additional international legitimacy.
Among the international treaties the PA reportedly has applied to join are the United Nations’ International Convention against Apartheid in Sports, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
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