US to again withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council, stop UNRWA funding
The actions come one day before Trump is set to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.
Megan MesserlyUNRWA is the main agency providing aid for Gaza’s population amid the humanitarian disaster caused by Israel’s offensive in the area after the Oct. 7 attack. But the U.N. fired several staffers last summer after an internal investigation found they may have been involved in the attack.
It’s also the next chapter in the country’s complicated, back-and-forth relationship with the U.N. Human Rights Council, which was created during the George W. Bush administration. Under Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the U.S. engaged with the council; under Bush and Trump, it did not.
A spokesperson for the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The White House, in a fact sheet obtained by POLITICO, said the council “has not fulfilled its purpose and continues to be used as a protective body for countries committing horrific human rights violations” and condemned its stance on Israel.
“The UNHRC has demonstrated consistent bias against Israel, focusing on it unfairly and disproportionately in council proceedings,” the document says. “In 2018, the year President Trump withdrew from the UNHRC in his first administration, the organization passed more resolutions condemning Israel than Syria, Iran, and North Korea combined.”
But human rights organizations and some lawmakers argue that the Human Rights Council is an important, if flawed, entity in policing human rights abuses across the globe. UNRWA, meanwhile, was founded to support displaced Palestinians and has played a key role amid the ongoing conflict in supporting people in Gaza.