The United Nations Human Rights Council convened in New York in July and, unless Donald J. Trump is elected president, citizens and supporters of Israel can expect more of the same anti-Israel activity from this ironically named organization.
The Jewish state is the only country in the world that undergoes an obligatory examination of its human rights record at every single session of the council. Indeed, even those renowned bastions of liberty and democracy, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, maintain their membership in the council without undergoing similar scrutiny.
Despite being the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel has been unjustly condemned by the Human Rights Council more than all other countries in the world combined.
Recognizing this hypocrisy, under President George W. Bush the United States refused to participate in the Human Rights Council. Under President Obama, however, the U.S. resumed its participation.
The Human Rights Council is but one example of the extreme bias against the Jewish state that one finds littered throughout the United Nations.
This year, UNESCO, the U.N.’s cultural agency, passed a resolution criticizing Israel and failed to recognize the Jewish and Christian connections to Jerusalem. The resolution referred to the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site dating back thousands of years, as well as other sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, only by their Islamic titles, intentionally erasing any Jewish or Christian connection to Jerusalem.
Other flagrant examples of the U.N.’s anti-Israel bias arise routinely out of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The agency’s ostensible mission is to provide healthcare, education, and social services to Palestinians, yet many of its activities have resulted in serious harm to Israel.
On multiple occasions in the past few years, the Hamas terrorist organization has used UNWRA-funded schools to conceal rockets that have been used, or were intended for use, against Israeli civilians. Teachers and administrators from these schools openly post messages to social media glorifying attacks against Israelis by “holy martyrs” and encouraging Palestinians to “stab Zionist dogs.” The schools’ textbooks erase Israel from the map.
Meanwhile, the significant prejudice against Israel is plainly evident throughout the U.N. General Assembly. Led by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and backed by the Non-Aligned Movement (currently led by Iran), the General Assembly casts a negative spotlight almost exclusively on Israel, all but ignoring global threats such as North Korea and Iran. While the United States, Israel and much of the western world continue to combat terrorism and the threat posed by Islamic extremists, the U.N. squanders its resources by passing endless resolutions attacking Israel.
The United States is currently the largest funder of the U.N. By some estimates, the billions contributed annually by U.S. taxpayers exceed the contributions of more than 176 other UN member states combined. Why have President Obama and Secretary Clinton allowed an organization in which the United States plays such a prominent role to routinely harangue our most important ally in the region?
A Hillary Clinton presidency could lead to an even worse state of affairs for Israel. As secretary of state in 2009, she said it was “a great regret” that the United States was not yet a signatory to the convention that created the International Criminal Court — another global organization where Israel’s foes hold sway.
Even under President Obama, the U.S. has declined to ratify the ICC treaty, which many legal analysts believe would subject our brave U.S. military officers and servicemen to political prosecution by foreign nations for doing their job in defending America abroad. A Clinton presidency would result in greater deference to the U.N., the Human Rights Council and other international bodies, as well as ratification of the ICC treaty. All of this would lead to less sovereignty for the American people, and even less support for strong U.S. allies like Israel.
Israel will never be treated fairly in the United Nations if things don’t change; its foes hold too much power there. But Donald Trump understands that Israel is a critical, strategic ally and the one true democracy and defender of human rights in the Middle East.
The United States needs a decisive leader who will exhort U.N. officials to see that the organization must change if it is to remain relevant and productive. That leader is Donald J. Trump. As president, he will help put an end to the anti-Israel madness that has dominated the United Nations for decades — and he will ensure that the U.N. returns to its historic mission of promoting peace, dialogue and international security.
Jason Greenblatt is an executive vice president and chief legal officer of The Trump Organization, co-chairman of Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump’s Israel Advisory Committee, and co-founder of the popular parenting and family website www.inspireconversation.com. Follow him @JasonDovEsq.
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