U.S. Withdraws From U.N. Human Rights Council Over Israel

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it has withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights Council, believing it to have an anti-Israel bias and a tolerance of abusive regimes, according to The Washington Post. “I want to make it crystal clear that this step is not a retreat from our human rights commitments,” U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the press. “On the contrary. We take this step because our commitment does not allow us to remain a part of a hypocritical and self-serving organization that makes a mockery of human rights.” Advocates are concerned, however, that Israel will face increased scrutiny and condemnation without the U.S.’s presence, which the Post notes “led to a sharp decrease in the number of special sessions that focused exclusively on Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.” Haley has long criticized the council, calling it a “forum for politics, hypocrisy, and evasion,” and twice threatened the U.S.’s exit if the council did not remove problematic regimes and strike the standing resolution critical of Israel’s conduct with Palestine. The decision comes only a day after the U.N. human rights chief derided Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policy, calling it “unconscionable” and likening it to child abuse.