NEW YORK/GENEVA—The World Jewish Congress decried the United Nations Human Rights Council’s adoption of five resolutions under ‘’Agenda Item 7’’ accusing Israel of human rights abuses and violations of international law in the Golan Heights and Palestinian territories.
The “Agenda Item 7” is a UNHRC mandate that a discussion of Israeli human rights abuses against Palestinians must be part of every council session.
One resolution passed, called on Israel to give the Golan Heights to civil war-torn Syria, with 25 votes in favor, 14 against and 7 abstentions. Another, “ensuring accountability and justice for all violations of international law in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including east Jerusalem,” called upon member states not to sell any military armaments to the Jewish state. It passed by a vote of 27 to 4 with 15 abstentions.
Three additional resolutions included one calling for Palestinian self-determination and Israeli withdrawal to the 1948 border lines, a resolution calling on Israel to cease building homes for Jews in Judea and Samaria, commonly referred to as the West Bank, and a resolution condemning Israel for committing human rights abuses against Palestinians. All the resolutions, which were authored by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, were approved.
In addition to the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom spoke out against UNHRC’s “Agenda Item 7,” requesting that the UNHRC move debates on Israeli violations to “Agenda Item 4,” where human rights abuses of all other member states excluding Israel are currently discussed. The U.K. still supported two of the “Agenda Item 7” resolutions.
“The UN Human Rights Council has once again let its biased and obsessive focus on Israel plague its session with its persistence of a standing agenda item dedicated to accusing Israel of wrong-doing and the adoption of a disproportionate number of resolutions containing blatantly one-sided language,” said WJC CEO Robert Singer.
Singer praised the states that voted against the various resolutions.
“The World Jewish Congress is encouraged by the growing show of support from certain friends and allies of Israel, and urges this council to take heed of the warnings issued as to the discriminatory and biased focus of this agenda item. Those who recognize the unfair nature of this very item should vote against it time and again to strip it of any legitimacy once and for all.”
Particularly “absurd” among the resolutions, Singer said, was the text blaming Israel for the so-called ‘suffering’ of Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights. “Israel has shown nothing but goodwill to both the Syrian Druze residents of northern Israel, who enjoy full and equal Israeli citizenship and civil liberties, as well as to the more than 3,000 wounded civilians treated in Israel since the beginning of the Syrian civil war. The very content of this resolution is preposterous and absurd. This council would do well to shift this misguided condemnation away from Israel and back to the Syrian government, where it belongs.” Singer welcomed the strong opposition shown by European Union states against the Golan resolution, noting the significantly higher number of 14 out of 47 rejections of this text compared to 3 last year.
Singer also expressed concern over the resolution assessing the human rights situation in the Palestinian territories, which, he said, “exonerates the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip of any responsibility.”
“The UN Human Rights Council has once again let its biased and obsessive focus on Israel plague its session with its persistence of a standing agenda item dedicated to accusing Israel of wrong-doing and the adoption of a disproportionate number of resolutions containing blatantly one-sided language,” said WJC CEO Robert Singer.
Singer praised the states that voted against the various resolutions.
“The World Jewish Congress is encouraged by the growing show of support from certain friends and allies of Israel, and urges this council to take heed of the warnings issued as to the discriminatory and biased focus of this agenda item. Those who recognize the unfair nature of this very item should vote against it time and again to strip it of any legitimacy once and for all,” he said.
Singer welcomed the strong opposition shown by European Union states against the Golan resolution, noting the significantly higher number of 14 out of 47 rejections of this text compared to 3 last year.
This ‘’particularly absurd” resolution blames Israel for the so-called ‘suffering’ of Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights. Singer stated : “Israel has shown nothing but goodwill to both the Syrian Druze residents of northern Israel, who enjoy full and equal Israeli citizenship and civil liberties, as well as to the more than 3,000 wounded civilians treated in Israel since the beginning of the Syrian civil war. The very content of this resolution is preposterous and absurd. This council would do well to shift this misguided condemnation away from Israel and back to the Syrian government, where it belongs.”
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley expressed America’s outrage at the UNHRC’s treatment of Israel and warned that the U.S. would reconsider its membership in the body.
“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.
“The United States continues to evaluate our membership in the Human Rights Council. Our patience is not unlimited,” she added. “Today’s actions make clear that the organization lacks the credibility needed to be a true advocate for human rights.”