Statement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: The U.N. "Human Rights" Council is antisemitic

"...In November, I received a letter from 106 members of Congress. They criticized moving the embassy to Jerusalem, closing the Palestinian office in D.C., halting foreign assistance to the West Bank and Gaza, and the rethinking that we did at the State Department about the settlements issue. Their claim – their claim in this letter – was that this 'discredited the United States as an honest broker between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.' They claimed this 'severely damaged prospects for peace.' They claimed that this 'endangered the security of America, Israel, and the Palestinian people.'

You know that discredits the United States. What damages peace, what endangers security, it's not recognizing the truth. The truth must be spoken, and it's what President Trump and our administration has done.

The harm – look, the harm to Israel, the harm to the region, the harm to the relationship between the United States and Israel comes from denying that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, by denying that the closing of the Palestinian in Washington was 100 percent necessary following President Abbas' 2017 remarks at the UN.

What damages and discredits the United States and our relationship with Israel is denying that Palestinian terrorism has been the real obstacle to peace. And it discredits this relationship when you deny that the settlement issue is a political dispute and not a political puzzle, as – and I'll have more to say about that in just a moment.

And finally, the UN. The UN's so-called Human Rights Council, and the High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet.

For those of you who are watching, the council recently released a database of companies doing business in East Jerusalem and Israeli settlements in the West Bank. That release from the United Nations only serves to facilitate the BDS movement and delegitimize Israel.

How sad. I remember reading it after its release. This is an organization that was set up to ensure that no people ever again faced horrors like the Jews faced during the Holocaust, and it is now anti-Semitic.

This administration was right when President Trump asked us to leave an international institution that grossly betrays its most fundamental mandate...

And further on the settlements issue – I know some American companies are wondering – some of you here today are wondering how to move forward in the wake of the UN Human Rights Council's release of the database that I just spoke about. It may not seem like much to some of you, but this is a real threat.

And I am proud to tell you that, this afternoon, the State Department released official guidance on this subject.

Here's what we said:

We said that we share your frustration.

We will continue to work with, trade, and invest in Israel.

Neither the Human Rights Council nor the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has the power to tell you what you can and can't do business in the West Bank.

Don't be intimidated. If you are being subjected to intimidation or harassment because of this database, let America know.

And the United States will respond to take actions against members of our business community that are being threatened by this release that was so sorely mistaken..."