Sen. Cruz: 'The United Nations Has Descended to a New Antisemitic Low'

"As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I recently issued the following statement in response to the publication by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights of its database listing companies operating in Israeli controlled territories:

The United Nations has descended to a new antisemitic low. This database of companies operating in Israeli-controlled territories is meant to facilitate boycotts of Israeli Jews.

It extends a tactic for attacking the livelihood of Jews that stretches back centuries, which has included boycotts, the physical destruction or confiscation of businesses, prohibitions on land ownership, and closing off certain professions. It is straightforward, undisguised, pathological hatred.

Almost unbelievably, the database even targets American companies offering general services across Israel, simply because they refuse to deny those general services to certain Jews. Our allies and adversaries should know that the United States will be carefully watching who stands with us and our Israeli allies against these disgraceful efforts.

The United Nations Human Rights Council and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights must immediately take down the database and halt any related investigations into businesses operating in Israeli territories.

In the meantime, President Trump and his administration should act expeditiously to counter this outrage. Specifically, I urge the administration to issue an executive order making it clear that our laws which prohibit cooperation with anti-Israel boycotts apply to boycotts sponsored by or initiated by international organizations such as the U.N. And as long as the database remains online or in use, the U.S. should also withhold funds from the U.N.

equivalent to the funding provided to the UNHRC and the OHCHR, and impose visa and travel restrictions on the officials responsible for this campaign, including High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet.

The U.S. will not stand by while our allies are attacked and Jews all over the world are subject to campaigns of boycotts and stigmatization."