Itongadol.- The United States on Monday joined Israel in boycotting the United Nations Human Rights Council debate Monday on Israeli violations of human rights in the Palestinian territories.
The UNHRC is mandated at every session to use Agenda Item 7 for a debate on this matter. There is no such mandate to repeatedly censure any other country.
Since taking office, US President Barack Obama has made eliminating Agenda Item 7 one of his policy objectives.
In the last few years most Western countries, including the US, have refrained from taking the floor during the debate, leaving Middle Eastern and African countries to voice the bulk of the protests on Israeli violations.
Most Western countries have instead preferred to make statements under Agenda Item 4, which discusses human rights violations of all countries.
On Monday Reuters reported that the US was absent from the UNHRC as a sign of Obama’s displeasure with Israel.
The Foreign Ministry denied that report and told reporters that a US spokesman from Geneva had confirmed that the US absence was indeed to protest Agenda Item 7.
Israel has asked its friends in the council not to appear under the Agenda Item, the US spokesman said.
During Monday’s debate, quite a number of countries complained about the absence of Western countries in the debate.
The European Union took the floor in defense of Israel during Agenda Item 7. The EU said that while Israel had an obligation to uphold international law, it should be treated as any other country and any violations should be discussed under Agenda Item 4.
For several hours, country after country protested Israeli violations of human rights in the Palestinian territories, including Algeria which went so far as to accuse Israel of genocide.
Ireland, so far, has been the sole Western country to enter the debate to protest Israel’s West Bank settlement construction and IDF treatment of Palestinian minors. It also took issue with the Hamas’s use of the death penalty in Gaza.
When the 28th UNHRC session opened in Geneva earlier this month, US Secretary of State John Kerry took the floor and swore that the US would fight any effort to isolate and delegitimize Israel at the UN and elsewhere.
“We will oppose any effort by any group or participant in the UN system to arbitrarily and regularly delegitimize or isolate Israel, not just at the UN Human Rights Council, but wherever it occurs,” Kerry said.
While he applauded the UNHRC’s work in defense of human rights, he charged that it fell short with regard to Israel, which was often singled out and treated unfairly, particularly in Geneva.
“It must be said that the UNHRC’s obsession with Israel actually risks undermining the credibility of the entire organization. It has the potential to limit the good that we have to do,” Kerry said.
Since Netanyahu won the election earlier this week, the US has said that it is re-assessing its policy toward Israel including at the UN, but that it would continue to stand firm with Israel against biased and unfair treatment.