The Trump administration continues its airtight policy of defending Israel before UN institutions.
The US State Department issued today (Monday) a statement opposing convoking a hearing of the United Nations Human Rights Council on the situation "of human rights in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories".
The State Department statement said that "The United States strongly and unequivocally opposes the existence of the UN Human Rights Council’s Agenda Item Seven: 'Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories'.”
This falls in line with a statement made earlier this month by the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, entitled "U.S. National Intervention – High Level Segment: Erin M. Barclay Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Human Rights Council – Geneva, Switzerland": "The United States also remains deeply troubled by the Council’s consistent unfair and unbalanced focus on one democratic country, Israel. No other nation is the focus of an entire agenda item. How is that a sensible priority? Right now, the Assad regime is bombing hospitals in Syria and forcing its own people to flee as refugees to neighboring countries to escape its murderous rule. Right now, in North Korea and Iran, millions of people are denied their freedoms of religion or belief, of peaceful assembly and association, and of expression," the statement made known.
"No other country occupies an entire topic in the Council", specified in the notice, "The obsession with Israel through agenda Item 7 is the largest threat to the Council’s credibility. It limits the good we can accomplish by making a mockery of this Council. The United States will oppose any effort to delegitimize or isolate Israel – not just in the HRC, but wherever it occurs. When it comes to human rights, no country should be free from scrutiny – but neither should any democratic country be regularly subjected to unfair, unbalanced, and unfounded bias."
Today's statement released by State's Acting Spokesman, Mark Toner, unambiguously delineates US policy: "The United States decided not to attend the Council’s Item Seven General Debate session. It does not serve the interests of the Council to single out one country in an unbalanced matter. Later this week, the United States will vote against every resolution put forth under this agenda item and is encouraging other countries to do the same."