Anti-Israel U.N. Body Assigns 'Privacy Expert' to Review U.S. Terror Laws

"The United Nations' Human Rights Council – a body U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley has repeatedly criticized for its anti-Israel bias and questionable membership – is sending a controversial 'privacy expert' to the U.S. to analyze and critique privacy rights and anti-terror laws under President Trump.

The U.N. announced Thursday that Special Rapporteur Joseph Cannataci will undertake his first official visit to the U.S. from June 19-27.

'I will place particular focus on the efficacy and proportionality of intrusive measures, identify problematic areas and best practices, and make recommendations for the way forward for the current administration,' Cannataci said in a statement.

Cannataci will pay 'special attention' to surveillance within the U.S., intelligence-sharing agreements and the electronic sharing of health data, according to the statement...

The relationship between the Human Rights Council and the Trump administration has been extremely fraught since Trump took office. Administration officials including Haley and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have repeatedly warned that the U.S. may leave the Council if it does not change its anti-Israel bias and reform its membership so as to exclude human rights abusers such as Cuba, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela...

Cannataci was himself the subject of controversy recently when he criticized a Japanese anti-terror law over privacy concerns. His rebuke triggered a protest from the Japanese government to the U.N., which Cannataci subsequently dismissed as 'empty words,' according to Reuters. He also wagged his finger last year at the U.K., warning that a new surveillance bill would be 'setting a bad example' to the rest of the world..."