US Threatens To Pull Out Of UN Human Rights Council Over ‘Anti-Israel Bias’

The Donald Trump administration has said that the United States would pull out of the United Nations Human Rights Council unless the body "ends the whitewashing of dictators' abuses and unfair attacks on Israel."

Nikki Haley, President Trump's UN ambassador, delivered the ultimatum in an address in Geneva to the 47-member body.

Israel regularly draws criticism from human rights groups for its occupation of territory seized in 1967 and for continuing to build settlements that the UN says are against international law. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has characterised the council as an "anti-Israeli circus", according to the BBC.

"The United States is looking very carefully at this council and our participation in it. We see some areas for significant strengthening. Being a member of this council is a privilege, and no country who is a human rights violator should be allowed a seat at the table," Haley told council members, the Washington Post reports.

Haley said the “relentless, pathological campaign” against a state with a strong human rights record “makes a mockery not of Israel, but of the Council itself”.

The US also accused the council of "shielding the repressive regimes it should be condemning, allowing such regimes to join the body and then use it to thwart scrutiny." She identified Iran, Syria and Venezuela as few such regimes. Haley is the first US ambassador to the UN to address the council, and her address is part of the US’ campaign to demand reform of the "biased UN bureaucracies."

Last week, Haley had said that the administration would decide on its council membership status after the council's session concludes later this month.

With Inputs From ANI.