Israel Relieved as U.S. Continues Boycott of Anti-Israel U.N. Agenda

There was speculation that the United States might stop boycotting the anti-Israel human rights theater at the United Nations this year, as part of a larger White House reaction to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection, but the Jerusalem Post happily reports that the U.S. once again refused to participate in the notorious Agenda Item 7 debate.

U.S. ambassador to the UNHRC Keith Harper said:

The United States strongly and unequivocally opposes the very existence of Agenda Item 7 and any [United Nations Human Rights Council] resolutions that come from it. The United States’ approach to the Human Rights Council’s Item 7 has not changed. We remain deeply troubled by this Council’s stand-alone agenda item directed against Israel, and by the many repetitive and one-sided resolutions under that agenda item. As was the case last year, the United States will not engage in the debate. Neither will Israel. Instead, we will call a vote, and vote no on Item 7 resolutions.

Agenda Item 7 is a special list of human rights “situations” focused solely and entirely against Israel’s actions in what the agenda describes as “Palestine and other occupied Arab territories.” Israel is the only nation in the world that receives such treatment, delivered by such towering giants of human-rights compassion as Syria. If you wanted to convince the proverbial visitor from Mars that the human race was collectively insane, you could take him to watch the Agenda Item 7 performance.

The Jerusalem Post reports.

On Monday, during the UNHRC Agenda Item 7 debate, the 47-member body heard seven reports on Israeli human rights violations in the Palestinian territories, more then were issued on any other country during its 28th session. There were two reports on Iran and one on Syria. The documents focused on last summer’s Gaza war, the continued ‘blockade’ of Gaza, the slow reconstruction effort, Israeli settlement buildings, IDF use of force against Palestinian protestors in the West Bank and Israel’s arrest and treatment of Palestinian minors in detention. For several hours, country after country protested Israeli violations of human rights in the Palestinian territories, including Algeria which went so far as to accuse Israel of genocide.