Legislation combating anti-Israel Bias
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(Background:)
The United Nations has a long and sorry history of focusing disproportionately on alleged misdeeds of Israel. Perhaps the most obvious instances of this are found in the United Nations’ Human Rights Council (UNHRC). Because of this unhelpful obsession, the United States withdrew from the council under prior Administrations. America has recently rejoined the council, hoping that it can influence that council’s work more effectively from the inside.
Last May, the U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) established an unprecedented, open-ended Commission of Inquiry (COI) intended to permanently target Israel. The COI is intended as an open-ended perpetual investigation into any aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including within Israel’s 1967 borders. This is in addition to the UNHRC’s Agenda Item 7, the permanent agenda item reserved for Israel’s alleged mistreatment of Palestinians and other Arabs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the UNHRC’s obsession has resulted in more than 90 anti-Israel resolutions since its founding in 2006. That’s more than all resolutions condemning Iran, Syria, North Korea, China, Russia, Cuba and Venezuela, combined. This is ironic since Israel’s Global Freedom score as measured by Freedom House is (a) almost double that of 13 of the 15 members of the UNHRC (behind only the UK and France) and (b) ten times that of the seven countries just noted.
The new commission’s broad mandate, biased leadership and substantial budget assure unremitting attacks against Israel, beginning with the COI’s first report next month (June).
It is anticipated that in that report, the COI will echo many libelous allegations against the Jewish state that its members and staff have previously made. This one-sided approach
mischaracterizes Israel’s attempts to protect its citizens as discrimination while ignoring the terrorism and hate that necessitate those steps
is absurd when leveled against a multi-ethnic democracy whose governing coalition includes significant Arab representation
ignores the fact that the Israeli military operates under strict legal guidelines that meet and exceed all international laws of conflict.
What We Are Asking Congress
House: Will you co-sponsor the COI Elimination Act (H.R. 7223) which restricts U.S. taxpayer dollars from funding the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) discriminatory Commission of Inquiry (COI) against Israel?
Senate: Thank Senate sponsors of the March 28 Portman-Cardin letter to Secretary Blinken. [See list of signatories in Appendix B of the full Talking Points manual]. Will you co-sponsor the Senate version of the COI Elimination Act when it is introduced?
Articles and Further Reading on the Issue