IT’S TIME FOR BRITAIN TO FOLLOW TRUMP’S LEAD ON ISRAEL

MICHAEL FABRICANT

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The UK should follow his lead and not only withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council but move its embassy to Jerusalem, too.

With Vice President Mike Pence looking on, US President Donald Trump gives a statement on Jerusalem, during which he recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, US, December 6, 2017. (photo credit: REUTERS/KEVIN LAMARQUE)

It has now been a year since US President Donald Trump’s announcement that the United States would be moving its embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing it as the capital of Israel.

Over the past 12 months, the US has not only carried through this commitment, but it has also withdrawn from the notoriously anti-Israel UN Human Rights Council.

Sadly, the bold decisive steps taken in Washington have not been repeated in London.

In June, I raised the issue of the Human Rights Council in the House of Commons. While the government has been content to admit the Council’s flaws, it has so far opted against further action, with then-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson stating, “We are committed to working to strengthen the council from within.”

The problem with this approach, of course, is that the Council has proven time and time again to be beyond any kind of meaningful reform.

Since its inception in 2006, the Council has not only failed to promote human rights, but even indirectly aids the worst abusers allowing them to cover up their crimes. Currently, 47 member states serve on the Council, and all are elected onto it by the UN General Assembly.

The problem? Among its current members, the Council includes some of the most oppressive and illiberal countries in the world, including: China, Cuba, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. As recently as October, serial abusers such as Eritrea and the Philippines were elected to the Council to serve three-year terms. Clearly, the British position of “reform from within” is not working.

This farce would at least be partially admissible if the Council made a sincere effort to promote human rights; and took an objective stance on calling out gross rights violations wherever they occur.

But they do not. According to the NGO UN Watch, between 2006 and 2016 the Human Rights Council issued 68 specific condemnations of Israel, far more than any other country. Syria, whose government routinely massacres its own civilians, followed in second with 20 condemnations, while Burma and North Korea followed with 11 and 9 respectively.

A number of states didn’t receive a single condemnation, despite regular and extreme human rights violations. These included: China, Russia, Venezuela, Yemen and Zimbabwe. The issue here is not so much the criticism of Israel. The problem is that Israel is routinely singled out by the Council to a disproportionate extent, while countries that commit far worse acts often receive no criticism whatsoever.

How can Israel, a modern democracy with an independent press, judiciary and parliament – a country where LGBT pride parades are accepted and gay soldiers serve in the armed forces – be condemned several dozen times while Iran, a place where homosexuals are relentlessly persecuted up to and including execution, receive just six condemnations?

How can Eritrea, a country routinely ranked as one of the single most repressive nations on the planet, be condemned less than a tenth as frequently than Israel, the only full democracy in the Middle East?
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