The Trump administration will boycott a session of the UN Human Rights Council over concerns about the organization’s anti-Israel agenda, the Washington Free Beacon reports.
The move comes as the council is set to adopt several anti-Israel resolutions Monday.
One item in particular, the "Human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories,” is “yet another reminder of that body's long-standing bias against Israel,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.
“As an expression of our deeply-held conviction that this bias must be addressed in order for the Council to realize its legitimate purpose, the United States decided not to attend the Council's Item Seven General Debate session,” Toner said.
The U.S. will vote against all the resolutions under the agenda item, he explained, adding that the administration will be encouraging other countries to join them.
U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said last week that the administration will not sit back idly while the organization pursues an anti-Israel agenda.
"The U.N. has been Israel-bashing for decades and what we are trying to do is make sure they understand that there's a new administration in town and we're not going to put up with it," she said in an interview with Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom” Friday.
The U.S.’s boycott follows the resignation of a senior UN official who stepped down after refusing to withdraw a report that labeled Israel’s treatment of Palestinians as “apartheid.”
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