Nikki Haley
Photo: MCT
US Senate unanimously warns UN to stop 'targeting Israel'
In a letter bearing the signatures of all 100 senators, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told that UN bodies, including the Human Rights Council, ‘devote time to unwarranted attacks against Israel’; senators urge world body to comply with expectations for reforms to stamp out habitual Israel-bashing, reminding that the US is the UN’s main financial contributor.
All 100 US senators signed a letter sent to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Thursday urging him to act against discrimination against Israel in the United Nations.
The letter, which was obtained by the Washington Post, contained a warning that the UN had better change its habitual discrimination against Israel, reminding Guterres that while the USA remains the main financial contributor to the organization, it is not afraid to act against it.
UN General Assembly (Photo: AFP)
The letter went on to say that the US expected to see a change in the world forum and its institutions vis-a-vis its treatment of Israel.
“Through words and actions, we urge you to ensure that Israel is treated neither better nor worse than any other UN member in good standing,” the letter said.
The letter reaffirmed the US’s committment to international leadership and to advancing respect for human rights but unequivocally condemned what it described as the “continued targeting of Israel by the UN Human Rights Council and other UN entities.”
The senators listed a number of specific agencies in the UN which they said had demonstrated clear bias against Israel.
Pointing to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the letter acknowledged that it did carry out important work in the field of Holocaust education, but nevertheless highlighted measures that “target Israel and deny the Jewish and Christian connection to Jerusalem,” adding that such actions only serve to undermine the institution’s credibility.
UN Human Rights Council (Photo: AP)
(UNESCO) is set to vote on Tuesday, Israel's Independence Day, on a resolution that comes out against Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem.
Turning to the United Nations Reliefs and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the senators told Guterres that the body would have to pursue reforms, accusing it of downplaying its “role in perpetuating troubling anti-Israel bias and activities.”
Furthermore, the signatories also delineated the “troubling” ways in which the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) “devotes time to unwarranted attacks against Israel.”
Cataloguing some of the most flagrant human rights violators in the world today, to which it said the UNHRC should be dedicating its attention, the senators once again decried the “imbalanced focus on Israel.”
Nikki Haley (Photo: MCT)
The letter constitutes another step toward repairing the US’s unflagging support for Israel since President Trump took office in January, and appointed Nikki Haley as his Envoy to the UN.
Israel-US relations were frayed under the Obama administration when the US abstained from a contentious UN Security Council resolution calling for an end to settlement construction while simultaneously declaring them illegal.
Since taking on her new role however, Haley has managed to earn the trust of many Israel supporters and build a reputation as one of Israel’s staunchest advocates on the international stage through a series of public speeches and declarations admonishing the UN for its bias treatment against the country.
