U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley delivered the following remarks at the Christians United for Israel Annual Summit on July 23, 2018:
"The UN can ... be an enormously frustrating and bizarre place. Nowhere is that more pronounced than in the truly awful way the UN has treated Israel for decades.
Last September, when Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke at the UN, he said that for too long, the 'epicenter of global anti-Semitism was the UN itself.' That's an amazing statement. But unfortunately, it's true...
From now on, every country knows that the United States will not just block anti-Israel measures, we will shine a light on those who are responsible. There won't be any more free passes for those who bully Israel at the UN...
A little more than a year ago, I went to Geneva and told the Human Rights Council that we expected changes in order to justify America's continued participation.
We said we needed to change the makeup of the Council membership to keep the worst human rights abusers off, and we needed to not just reform, but fully eliminate Agenda Item Seven. Dozens of countries told us they agreed with us. But they only told us that behind closed doors. They did not have the courage to call it out for what it was.
Well, we do have that courage. After more than a year of efforts to change the Human Rights Council, we saw the writing on the wall, and the United States withdrew.
Many friendly countries told us we should stay in the Human Rights Council because American participation was 'the last shred of credibility the Council had.'
But that's exactly why we should not be there. America will always be the world's leader in advocating human rights. But we will not do that in a place that makes a mockery of the very human rights ideals it is supposed to uphold.
That brings me to a larger point.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner and leading documenter of the Holocaust, Elie Wiesel, said and wrote many profound things in his lifetime. One of those is the idea that 'neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.' And that 'silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.'
I keep that in mind as I battle away at the United Nations.
At the UN, some well-meaning countries are constantly in search of consensus.
They frequently invoke the principle of neutrality. At times, there is virtue in working together with other countries to form consensus. But that principle can be taken too far, and it often is.
The United States has no moral duty to be neutral between right and wrong. On the contrary, we have a moral duty to take sides, even when that means standing alone...
Eighteen months ago, I was given the assignment to represent America in a place that relentlessly attacks Israel. And I was sent there at a time when America had turned its back on Israel.
So it was my duty to defend Israel in what is often a dark place for one of America's best friends. I take that duty incredibly seriously and with great pride...
In all that we're doing – whether it's the embassy decision, or UNESCO, or the Human Rights Council, or pushing for votes against Hamas, our approach on Israel is tied together by one major idea. The idea that runs through all of it is the simple concept that Israel must be treated like any other normal country.
We demand that Israel not be treated like some sort of temporary provisional entity or pariah. It cannot be the case that only one country in the world doesn't get to choose its capital city.
It cannot be the case that the Human Rights Council has a standing agenda item for only one country.
It cannot be the case that only one set of refugees throughout the world is counted in a way that causes the number to grow literally forever.
It cannot be the case that in an organization with 193 countries, the United Nations spends half of its time attacking only one country..."