US to threaten to leave UN Human Rights Council over “anti-Israel bias”

The US is expected to threaten to withdraw from the United Nations Human Rights Council unless it implements several reforms, including the removal of a “anti-Israel bias”.

US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, has previously signalled that the US may leave, saying that a final decision would be made after the Council concludes its three-week session in Geneva this month.

The US has disagreed with the Human Rights Council’s stance on Israel for several presidential terms, boycotting the body for three years under President George W. Bush. America then rejoined the Council in 2009 under Barack Obama.

Ambassador Haley said: “When the council passes more than 70 resolutions against Israel, a country with a strong human rights record, and just seven resolutions against Iran, a country with an abysmal human rights record, you know something is seriously wrong.”

The possible withdrawal represents another move away from multilateralism for the US, after it stepped back from the Paris Climate Change Agreement last week.

Haley said on the subject that whilst “President Trump believes the climate is changing and he believes pollutants are part of the equation”, “what President Obama submitted the US to was not achievable under our standards or any other country’s standards”.

“What we want to do is say is we are a sovereign country. We’re going to make sure we’re looking out for the US first,” said Haley, who was previously the Republican governor of South Carolina.

“We will always be leaders in the environment. … But we’re going to make sure we’re not hurting our companies in the process. There’s a balance.”