David Friedman slams Biden for not exiting UN Human Rights Council

The Council’s 18-page report damning Israel is the latest proof of why rejoining it was a mistake, the former ambassador told World Israel News.

By Debbie Reiss, World Israel News

As 22 countries denounce the UN Human Rights Council over its damning report blaming Israel for the conflict with the Palestinians, former U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman told World Israel News in an exclusive interview that the Biden administration never should have rejoined the “deeply anti-Semitic” council.

One of the Biden administration’s first moves was to rejoin the council after Donald Trump withdrew from it in 2018 for being a “cesspool of anti-Israel bias.”

“The U.S. never should have gone back in, it’s a terrible organization and has no credibility,” Friedman told WIN, noting that Cuba, China Turkey, the Taliban, Pakistan, the Republic of Congo had never been condemned once. Russia was condemned once; Venezuela, twice; Iran received 12 condemnations, and Israel was condemned 99 times.

“Numbers speak loudly to the fact that this is an organization that is deeply, deeply anti-Semitic. The U.S. has no business being part of it and contributing to it,” Friedman added.

He went on to slam President Joe Biden for believing that by rejoining, the U.S. would have any sway over the council.

“The premise by Biden that by joining the Human Rights Council they could do some good has been disproven many times but most certainly by this report,” Friedman said.

The report, put together by a commission of inquiry formed in the aftermath of the May 2021 conflict with the Hamas terror group, accuses Israel of “persistent discrimination against Palestinians.”

Twenty-two countries, including the U.S. and Israel, signed a statement this week calling on the UN agency to cease the “disproportionate attention given to Israel.”

anti-Israel biasDavid FriedmanDonald TrumpHuman Rights CouncilIsrael-Palestinian conflictNikki HaleyUNHRC