WICKER, HYDE-SMITH CALL FOR END OF ANTI-ISRAEL FOCUS OF U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
Miss. Senators Among 68 Senators Asking Sec. of State to Refocus Resources on Actual Human Rights Crises
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) are among a broad bipartisan Senate majority that is encouraging Secretary of State Antony Blinken to assert his influence to end “discriminatory and unwarranted treatment” of Israel by the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC).
Sixty-eight Senators have written Blinken encouraging the Biden administration to lead a multinational effort in the UNHRC and in the United Nations to end the permanent Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“We appreciate your commitment to put the Council’s ‘disproportionate focus on Israel’ at the top of the Biden administration’s agenda for reforming the Council when the U.S. announced it would seek to rejoin the UNHRC,” the Senators wrote.
“By unfairly singling out Israel, the UNHRC undermines its credibility to investigate human rights violations around the world,” they continued. “The COI is the latest endeavor by UNHRC to discredit the only Jewish state and is likely to further fuel antisemitism worldwide. Therefore, we urge you to act upon the administration’s commitment to defend Israel from discriminatory treatment at the Human Rights Council and throughout the UN system.”
In their letter, the Senators urge Blinken to redirect resources toward human rights crises around the world instead of wasteful and biased investigations into Israel, noting that the COI budget and staffing “represents considerable resources devoted to maligning and ultimately prosecuting Israel.”
U.S. Senators Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) led the letter, which was signed by 36 Republican Senators and 32 Democrats.
Click here to read the letter to Secretary Blinken.
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