Haley to warn UN Human Rights Council against anti-Israel bias

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The U.S.is likely this week to warn the United Nations Human Rights Council that it may withdraw due to "anti-Israel bias", Reuters reported Monday.

The pro-Israeli ambassador arrived in Israel for a day after she threatened that the USA will leave the UN Human Rights Council over what she said was the agency's "bias" against Israel.

Haley, a former Republican governor of SC who was tapped by President Donald Trump for the cabinet-level diplomatic post, specifically called out the Council for admitting "many of the world's worst human rights offenders" as members, including Venezuela, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia.

The Ambassador also said the council must "end its practice of wrongly singling out Israel for criticism".

No immediate withdrawal is expected ahead of the council's next session, which starts Monday, but discussion of abandoning the council is likely to alarm worldwide activists already anxious that the United States will take a lower profile on global human rights issues under President Donald Trump.

Under President Donald Trump's administration, the U.S. has already pulled out of the Paris climate agreement, drawing criticism from leaders around the globe. "We see some areas for significant strengthening".

The administration of President Donald Trump is not the first to call out the United Nations rights council for criticizing Israel.

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Nikki Haley criticised the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for what she believes is a biased approach.

KELEMEN: Haley is calling for some changes in the way members are elected to keep human rights abusers off the council.

"Countries like Venezuela, Cuba, China, Burundi and Saudi Arabia occupy positions that obligate them to, in the words of the resolution that created the Human Rights Council, "uphold the highest standards" of human rights", Haley said in remarks at the Graduate Institute Geneva.

It will be the first visit to Israel for Haley, one of the Trump administration's most vocally pro-Israel officials and the uncontested darling of America's pro-Israel community, since taking office in January.

Israel has long complained of ingrained anti-Israel bias within the United Nations, where Israel and its allies are far outnumbered by Arab countries and their supporters.

The US State Department had in March "strongly and unequivocally" opposed the UNHCR adoption of Item Seven on its agenda describing it as "yet another reminder of that body's long-standing bias against Israel". "Competition would force a candidate's human rights record to be considered before votes were cast".

However Haley hit back, suggesting Donald Trump's administration could pull support from the body, just as George W. Bush did before the decision was reversed by Barack Obama.

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