UN's Human Rights Council Lacks Moral Authority

For years those that support Israel have felt that the UN’s treatment of Israel is unjustified. Israeli leaders have complained again and again that the UN is biased against the Jewish state, that it judges almost every action of Israel through a Palestinian prism.

While Israel has hardly been blameless in the decades of Middle East strife, the UN human rights panel focused almost exclusively on Israel’s alleged misdeeds, while slaughter and genocide in other places around the world have been overlooked.

Judge Goldstone in his recent admission that Israel did not intentionally target civilians in Gaza, has also admitted that the entire UN enterprise was skewed against Israel from the start. At last there is evidence that the UN Human Rights Council is indeed biased against Israel.

While the UN Human Rights Council is quick to condemn Israel for every action, for years it refrained from passing judgement on Iran, one of the worst state offender of human rights. Only now after years of human rights abuses, executions and stoning, did the Human Rights Council decide to appoint an investigator to monitor human rights abuses in the country.

It was not an easy decision to pass. Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, the U.S. representative to the Council explains how things work – “There is a general sense that countries are often fearful of being criticized and therefore they would protect other countries from being criticized by the council so that when it comes their turn to being criticized maybe others stick with them”.

Now Syria is vying for a seat on the Human Rights Council – and believe it or not, the council is seriously considering its application. Never mind the hundreds protesters killed by Syrian official forces, never mind the lack of free speech, or Syria’s support of terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and Hamas. Syria submitted a statement saying they support human rights and that’s enough for consideration.

Frankly with their membership panel dotted with the worst human rights offenders, it seems that the UN Human Rights Council is focusing on Israel as means to hide their own members crimes against humanity.

Another acknowledgement to the bias against Israel in the UN’s Human Rights Council came from the US’ Ambassador to the UN. In prepared testimony, Susan Rice told a House panel that while the council has its flaws, a U.S. retreat would “embolden those nations that unfairly ostracize Israel and weaken the international community’s ability to prevent human rights abuses.”

When one tries to rationalize why would the UN treat Israel differently than any other member state there are no easy answers. In Giyus.org‘s interview with Professor Porat, an expert on antisemitism, she claimed the only reasonable explanation is pure antisemitism against the Jewish state. The Jewish identity is what makes Israel unique and a target to a disproportional, subjective voicing of opinions.

Lybia was recently suspended from the global human rights watchdog body–the first such suspension of one of its 47-members since the council was established in 2006. Let’s hope the UN’s rights body will stay clear of additional human rights offenders as members and will clear it’s attitude towards Israel. Maybe then it will be free to hold its mandate to promote and protect the highest standards of human rights in the world.