US President Donald Trump has ordered a reduction in criticism of Israel and several other countries in the annual report on global human rights, The Washington Post reported.
According to the report, the latest drafts of the US State Department’s annual human rights report on every country in the world contain less criticism than in previous years regarding at least three key countries that Trump views as strategic: Israel, El Salvador, and Russia.
It was also reported that the draft report on Israel includes only 25 pages, compared to 100 pages last year, and excludes references to the trial of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the government’s plans for judicial reform, and the surveillance and movement restrictions imposed on Palestinian Authority Arabs.
The US State Department has been producing detailed human rights reports on every country for 50 years, in line with a Congressional mandate.
These reports are typically based on local human rights organizations and are considered the world's most comprehensive and authoritative documents on human rights.