Note
Haaretz is reporting that Israel is considering in the near future a return to cooperation with the UN human rights system in Geneva. None of Israel's concerns about the deep anti-Israel and anti-Jewish bias of the system and its flagship Human Rights Council have been addressed. There is no chance whatsoever that the permanent agenda of the Council - which has one item reserved for Israel-bashing and one for considering all other 192 UN members - will be changed. UN special investigator on Israel, Richard Falk - the notorious apologist for terrorists from Gaza to Boston - is still in place. The Council's habit of adopting resolutions condemning Israel at a pace many times greater than any other state continues. So why would Israel legitimize the Council and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights by returning cap-in-hand? Try pressure from the Obama administration - which has become the lead champion of the Council. Israel's absence rebuts the false Obama narrative that the policy of legitimizing the Council is actually consistent with promoting human rights, rights like preventing antisemitism. Israel has nothing to gain from legitimizing the Council in the absence of real reform.