Israel announces boycott of 'biased' UN Human Rights Council
What's the story
Israel has announced its decision to boycott the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), citing a persistent pattern of anti-Semitism and bias against the country.
The announcement came a day after US President Donald Trump stopped American engagement with the rights body.
"Israel joins the United States...The UNHRC has traditionally protected human rights abusers by allowing them to hide from scrutiny, and instead obsessively demonizes the one democracy in the Middle East — Israel," Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar charged.
Accusations
Discrimination against us is clear: Israel
The minister claimed that "discrimination against us is clear" and that Israel is the only country "with an agenda item dedicated solely to it."
He went on to say that the UN Human Rights Council has issued over 100 "condemnatory resolutions" against Israel, accounting for more than 20% of all motions ever passed.
This is also more than the total combined resolutions against Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela.
"Israel will not accept this discrimination any longer!" Sa'ar asserted.
Reform demand
Israel calls for reforms within UNHRC
The US and Israel are not currently members of the UNHRC, but they have informal observer status and a place in the council.
On Tuesday, Trump stated that the US will withdraw from the UNHRC and will no longer pay UNRWA, an agency that provides services to Palestinians.
The US has already stopped funding UNRWA after it was revealed that a handful of the organization's employees took part in the Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023.