UN report decries Israeli settlements' 'alarming pace'
Posted: Mon Mar 20, 2017 4:05 pm
US boycotts UN rights council as special rapporteur accuses Israel of 'the subjugation' of Palestinians' 'humanity'.
The US State Department criticised the UN council on Monday for holding its Israel debate and vowed in a statement "to vote against every resolution put forth under this agenda item".
The US also boycotted Monday's session saying the regular review showed the council's "long-standing bias against Israel", which threatens the "credibility" of the body.
UN withdraws report accusing Israel of apartheid
Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, denounced how Israel was the only country on the 47-member council's calendar.
"It is not Syria, where the regime has systematically slaughtered and tortured its own people," she said.
"It is not Iran, where public hangings are a regular occurrence. It is not North Korea, where the regime uses forced labour camps to crush its people into submission. It is Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East."
A letter from US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to advocacy groups, obtained by the AP news agency last week, said the US would not continue participating unless the council undergoes "considerable reform".
In the more than 230 country-specific resolutions at the council since it was founded 11 years ago, more than one-quarter have been focused on Israel, whose policies in Palestinian areas have raised rights concerns for decades.
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The US State Department criticised the UN council on Monday for holding its Israel debate and vowed in a statement "to vote against every resolution put forth under this agenda item".
The US also boycotted Monday's session saying the regular review showed the council's "long-standing bias against Israel", which threatens the "credibility" of the body.
UN withdraws report accusing Israel of apartheid
Nikki Haley, US ambassador to the UN, denounced how Israel was the only country on the 47-member council's calendar.
"It is not Syria, where the regime has systematically slaughtered and tortured its own people," she said.
"It is not Iran, where public hangings are a regular occurrence. It is not North Korea, where the regime uses forced labour camps to crush its people into submission. It is Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East."
A letter from US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to advocacy groups, obtained by the AP news agency last week, said the US would not continue participating unless the council undergoes "considerable reform".
In the more than 230 country-specific resolutions at the council since it was founded 11 years ago, more than one-quarter have been focused on Israel, whose policies in Palestinian areas have raised rights concerns for decades.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/03/r ... 53859.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;