Geneva (21 March 2016)

While 19 million Syrians, Iraqi and Yemeni are fleeing their destroyed cities and  homes; while Daesh and Al Qaida are expanding their terror networks in the Middle East, Africa and Europe; while North Korea and Iran are testing their ballistic capabilities; the OHCHR continues to find it relevant to allocate its limited resources of  time, personnel and money to produce six reports on Israel, and the HRC will consider five resolutions in the context of a dedicated Agenda Item, singling out Israel. 

Since its establishment in 2006, the Human Rights Council adopted 61 resolutions condemning Israel, compared with 73 other country resolutions. This obsession with Israel and disregard for the Human Rights of millions must stop. 

Ambassador Eviatar Manor, Permanent Representative of Israel to the UN in Geneva, remarked: “In the course of the last three weeks, thousands demonstrated on the Place des Nations demanding the UN’s attention. But we are sorry to tell them that they are wasting their time. The Human Rights Council is only obsessed with the fate of the Palestinians, and prefers to close its eyes to other critical Human Rights violations. It consistently disregards the human rights of Israelis. In fact, it does not care for them at all.”

This Monday, the Human Rights Council will again conduct a debate under the infamous Item 7 of its Agenda, an item that singles out Israel and glaringly discriminate Israelis, who do not enjoy the protection of the HRC. 

Ambassador Manor said: “As long as the HRC does not undergo a behavioral therapy to treat its obsession with Israel, we will not cooperate with these biased mechanisms!”

Media contact: publicdiplomacy@geneva.mfa.gov.il or +41 22 716 25 24

Read all the statements delivered during the HRC31: http://bit.ly/HRC31-ISR