Israel says it is withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), following in the footsteps of the United States, which announced its decision earlier this week.
In response to Thursday’s announcement by Israel’s foreign minister, UNHRC spokesperson Pascal Sim said Israel has observer state status within the rights body and, therefore, could not withdraw from the council.
The Geneva-based council is made up of 47 UN member states, which are elected by other UN members to serve four-year terms on a rotating basis. The US is also currently not an elected member of the council.
On Thursday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar accused the UNHRC of anti-Semitism and said his country “joins the United States and will not participate in the UNHRC”.
Saar added that the decision “was reached in light of the ongoing and unrelenting institutional bias against Israel in the Human Rights Council, which has been persistent since its inception in 2006”.
Earlier, Israel’s UN ambassador, Danny Danon, accused the body of “moral failure”.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, said Israel’s decision was “extremely serious” and “shows the hubris and the lack of realisation of what they [Israel] have done”.
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