The United States “believes that its leadership was an important element of the [Security] Council’s improved focus on urgent human rights crises, promotion of universal human rights such as freedom of expression, and decreased fixation on Israel,” the statement said.
In nine years since the UN Human Rights Council was established, it has condemned Israel over actions in Palestinian territories more times than for every other nation combined, according to a 2015 report by UN Watch. The report said the UN Human Rights Council had condemned Israel 61 times compared with 55 times for rights violations of all other nations.
“The only country in the world with the standing agenda item at the Human Rights Council is not North Korea, a totalitarian state that is currently holding an estimated 100,000 people in gulags. It is not Syria, which has gassed lots of its people. It is Israel,” the publication Jewish Voice quoted US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power as telling students at the American International School in Israel earlier this month.
The United Stated is completing a mandatory one-year hiatus from the UN Human Rights Council after serving two consecutive three-year terms, the release explained.
