Israel withdraws from UN human rights body

JERUSALEM -- Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar informed the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Thursday that Israel will no longer participate in it.

Israel's move came two days after US President Donald Trump announced his country's withdrawal from the top UN human rights body.

Sa'ar wrote to UNHRC President Jurg Lauber that "the decision was reached in light of the ongoing and unrelenting institutional bias against Israel in the Human Rights Council, which has been persistent since its inception in 2006".

Sa'ar mentioned that the council "has become a political tool and a convenient platform, cynically used to advance certain political aims, to bash and delegitimize Israel".

He claimed that Israel has been subject to over 20 percent of all condemnatory resolutions ever passed in the council, "more than (those) against Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and Venezuela, combined."

He added that since Oct 7, 2023, "the council has employed every platform to spread misinformation and blood libels against Israel."

The Israeli minister wrote on social media platform X that "joining President Trump's just decision, Israel will no longer tolerate the council's blatant antisemitism".