WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators John Boozman (R-AR), Rob Portman (R-OH) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) led a bipartisan group of 68 senators in a letter urging the Biden administration to prioritize reversing the U.N. Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) discriminatory and unwarranted treatment of Israel by leading a multinational effort to end the permanent Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In May 2021, the UNHRC approved an open-ended investigation of Israel’s “war crimes, treatment of Palestinians, and human rights violations” which is the only country-specific item on the Council’s agenda. This Commission is unfair, unwarranted and singles out Israel, further fueling anti-Semitism. With the United States returning as a member of the UNHRC earlier this year, the senators ask the secretary to use our position to redirect resources from wasteful and biased investigations into Israel and focus on human rights crises around the world.
“We appreciate your commitment to put the Council’s ‘disproportionate focus on Israel’ at the top of the Biden administration’s agenda for reforming the Council when the U.S. announced it would seek to rejoin the UNHRC …By unfairly singling out Israel, the UNHRC undermines its credibility to investigate human rights violations around the world,” the senators wrote.
“The COI is the latest endeavor by UNHRC to discredit the only Jewish state and is likely to further fuel antisemitism worldwide. Therefore, we urge you to act upon the Administration’s commitment to defend Israel from discriminatory treatment at the Human Rights Council and throughout the UN system,” the senators continued.
This Commission on Israel solely focuses on the actions Israel took to defend itself during the 2021 conflict with the terrorist group Hamas. The UNHRC also passed roughly an equal number of resolutions from 2006-2019 condemning Israel as it did the rest of the world combined. This did not include condemnation of Russia or China.
Joining Boozman, Portman and Cardin in signing the letter were U.S. Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), Jim Risch (R-ID), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), John Thune (R-SD), Jacky Rosen (D-NV), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Chris Coons (D-DE), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Susan Collins (R-ME), Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Ben Sasse (R-NE), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Maggie Hassan (D-NH), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Kevin Cramer (R-ND), Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Gary Peters (D-MI), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Patty Murray (D-WA), Joni Enrst (R-IA), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), John Cornyn (R-TX), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tim Scott (R-SC), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Michael Bennet (D-CO), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Mike Braun (R-IN), Mark Warner (D-VA), Rick Scott (R-FL), John Hickenlooper (D-CO), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Mike Rounds (R-SD), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Roger Marshall (R-KS), Bob Casey (D-PA), John Kennedy (R-LA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Mike Lee (R-UT), Raphael Warnock (R-GA), Steve Daines (R-MT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Roger Wicker (R-MS), Jon Tester (D-MT), Todd Young (R-IN), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Josh Hawley (R-MO), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Mike Crapo (R-ID) and John Hoeven (R-ND).
Source: https://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=F2D79560-BD52-49AC-B0A2-3AB5565D014E
