Toronto-based Jewish advocacy organization Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center (FSWC) applauded Canada for denouncing the United Nations Human Rights Council's (UNHRC) long-standing bias against Israel.
A joint statement issued by Canada and 21 other countries, including the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Brazil, Austria, the Netherlands, Hungary and Colombia, was delivered during the 50th session of the UNHRC. It condemned the “outrageously one-sided and baseless anti-Israel report recently released by the Commission of Inquiry (COI) established by the UNHRC as well as the Council’s ‘disproportionate attention given to Israel.’”
"The Council should address all human rights concerns, regardless of country, in an even-handed manner," the joint statement said. "Regrettably, we are concerned that the Commission of Inquiry will further contribute to the polarization of a situation about which so many of us are concerned."
Last week, FSWC Director of Policy Jaime Kirzner-Roberts wrote to Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly urging Canada to join the U.S. and U.K. in publicly speaking out against the COI report.
"It is encouraging to see Canada and many other countries stand up to the UNHRC's ongoing efforts to delegitimize and vilify the State of Israel, the world's only Jewish state and the sole democracy in the Middle East. Time and time again, Israel has been disproportionately targeted at the UN and has remained the only country that faces an ongoing barrage of one-sided resolutions every year,” FSWC President and CEO Michael Levitt. “Meanwhile, human rights abusers, including terror groups and dictators, are let off the hook, and the deadly violence Israeli civilians regularly face continues to be whitewashed. These 22 nations are re-amplifying the anti-Israel agenda that has existed at the UNHRC for years and the UN's failure to fulfill its responsibility to remain neutral.”
“This so-called ‘human rights’ council must be held accountable for stoking the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and being an obstacle to the advancement of peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” Levitt added.