By the Gazette Editorial Board Nikkei Haley, the US envoy to the UN stood at the State Department in Washington to announce that the US had decided to withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). She accused it of hypocrisy and bias against Israel. Yet, she did not mention the fact that the US was unable to tolerate the council's recent criticism of Trump's economic and immigration policies that violated basic principles of human rights. Haley described the council as a "cesspool of political bias", a metaphor she used to confirm what she had said, a year earlier, about the Council's need to address its "bias against Israel". The fact is that by definition, the US, especially under the Trump Administration, has always shown nothing but political bias to Israel. What should we say about the repeated US vetoes against Security Council resolutions that condemn Israel's malpractice in Palestine and its use of excessive force against the Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border since March? Moreover, the US has been keen on several occasions to block efforts to adopt sanctions against Israel. What about Trump's decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem against the will of the international community? Has the US not turned a blind eye to Israel's expansionist plans and persistent building of illegal settlements that violate international law? The US decision to quit the Council is fully comprehensible in the light of the fact that the UNHRC had condemned Israel in 45 resolutions since 2013. Such condemnation was fully justified given Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. Business-minded Trump has been straightforward about his advocacy of Israel's interests. So, the decision to withdraw from the council fits well within the US-Israel relationship. The decision highlights the inconsistency of US policy, coming as it does in the wake of the UNHRC chief, Zeid Raad al-Hussein's harsh criticism of Trump's policy of separating children from parents that illegally cross the border from Mexico. Some medical experts in the US say that the policy amounts to child abuse. Although Trump has issued an executive order ending the family separation policy, he has generally shown a racist face in dealing with immigrants since he assumed office. He had to modify several of his contested immigration-related executive orders by virtue of court rulings. The US might have certain valid reservations about the performance of the UNHRC. But, the deficiencies which the US has pointed at are part and parcel of an overall weakness of the ageing UN organisations that have failed in recent years to address imbalances in the world order whether related to conflicts, trade, poverty or commitment to agreements and charters. That being said there was no need for Nikki Haley to imply that the US had a moral case to defend when it decided to turn its back on the UNHRC.
