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UN Human Rights Council calls for arms embargo against Israel

The UNHRC called for an international effort to halt arms sales to Israel, capping off a session during which the body adopted multiple anti-Israel resolutions.

By: World Israel News Staff

By the close of its 37th session in Geneva over the weekend, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) managed to pass five resolutions targeting the Jewish state, while Syria, a nation in which genocide has claimed the lives of half a million people, garnered only two resolutions.

Among the UNHRC’s anti-Israel resolutions was a motion demanding that the international community halt future arms sales to the Jewish state. By a vote of 27 to 4, with 15 abstentions, the UNHRC passed the resolution, which requests that member states’ “public authorities and private entities do not become involved in … the provision of arms to end users known or likely to use the arms in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian and/or human rights law.”

The “end users” to which the motion’s language refers are Israel and its defense establishment.

Among the other resolutions passed were one that demands Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights and another calling for Israel’s retreat to the pre-1967 lines. Another seeks to halt the construction of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

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All of the resolutions were introduced under Agenda Item 7, a permanent fixture on the UNHRC’s program that mandates singling Israel out for castigation at every session of the UN agency.

Reactions from Israeli leaders were predictably dour. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the UNHRC a “circus of the absurd,” characterizing its activities as “detached from reality.”

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman urged Israel to exit the UNHRC, noting, “The fact that we are sitting there gives legitimacy to the anti-Semitic decisions, and this farce must end.”

Israel was not alone in pointing out the UN body’s anti-Israel obsession, with the US, the UK, and Australia offering comments warning the UNHRC that its unwavering focus on the Jewish state undermines its stated purpose.

“Our patience is not unlimited,” cautioned US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley. “Today’s actions make clear that the organization lacks the credibility needed to be a true advocate for human rights.”