Israel, U.S. Trying to Persuade Western States to Oppose Five Anti-Israel UN Resolutions

"Israel and the United States are cooperating to persuade as many Western countries as possible to oppose, or to at least abstain from voting on, five anti-Israeli resolutions scheduled for voting at the United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday, a Foreign Ministry official said on Monday...

The five resolutions coming up for discussion and voting are pursuant to Agenda Item 7 of the UNHRC. The section is unusual in being devoted entirely to human rights abuses by Israel. As no other country has been treated similarly, Israel claims that the item is an example of the council's bias against it...

As far as Israel is concerned, the most problematic part lies in the resolution touching on settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, which will include a call on the nations of the world and private enterprises to stop all commercial activity – direct or indirect – with the settlements. The resolution will also call for a special discussion on the topic of the settlements in the next meeting of the UNHRC later this year...

A top official at the Foreign Ministry assessed that the resolutions are likely to pass, since the Palestinians have an automatic majority in the UNHRC.

However, he stressed, Israel's purpose is to ensure that the nations of Europe and other Western countries vote against the resolutions, or at least abstain from them. The senior Israeli official said the Palestinians are trying to reach a consensus with the European nations about the formulation of the resolutions, to enable their vote of support. He emphasized that Israel, with the help of the U.S., is trying to break the European consensus.

Israeli circles assess that if Germany and Britain decide to oppose the resolutions, or abstain, it would enable other countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia to oppose them too.

The official added that some weeks ago, Israel contacted the Trump administration and asked to coordinate activity in Geneva and other capitals around the world against the resolutions. A request to this effect was also transferred to U.S. Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley, who undertook to help. Israel's permanent envoy to the UN and other international institutions in Geneva, Aviva Raz Shechter, has been working in recent days with American representatives to influence Germany, Britain and other countries, hoping to persuade them to oppose the resolutions or abstain. The Foreign Ministry has instructed Israel's ambassadors in the capitals of the countries that sit on the UNHRC to work with top political echelons in these places and ask them to vote against or abstain..."