NASHVILLE, TN—United States Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) introduced a resolution calling for the Biden Administration “to continue to work robustly toward the dissolution of the biased United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel (COI).” In May 2021, days after the conflict between the Gaza-based terrorist organization Hamas and Israel, the UN Human Rights Council approved an unprecedented open-ended investigation of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, purported war crimes and human rights violations.
This Commission focuses on the actions Israel took in Gaza as it sought to defend its citizens, and also has a carte blanche mandate to examine any period in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict about violations not only in the West Bank and Gaza, but also within Israel’s pre-1967 borders. This one-sided approach is consistent with Council’s continuing bias against Israel and the disproportionate diversion of resources in an ongoing campaign to disparage, discredit and denounce Israel. The COI operates with an annual budget of over $4 million and a permanent staff of 18, which represents considerable resources devoted to maligning Israel.
By unfairly singling out Israel, the resolution declares, “the Council undermines its credibility to investigate human rights violations around the world.” Moreover, the resolution noted, this initiative to discredit the only Jewish state “is likely to further fuel antisemitism worldwide.”
“I’m pleased to support this bipartisan resolution demanding the dissolution of the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry that is targeting Israel in an unprecedented, wasteful, and completely biased manner,” said Senator Hagerty. “I urge the Executive Branch to do all it can to end the egregious anti-Israel commission at the United Nations.”
“With the return of the United States to the UN Human Rights Council, we think it is time for the American presence to be used to address major human rights problems around the world,” said Senator Cardin. “An important step would be to redirect the wasteful use of funds and personnel being spent on excessive devotion to disparaging Israel to allow the UN Human Rights Council to fairly promote human rights around the world.”
Text of the Resolution can be found here.
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