The Honorable Linda Thomas-Greenfield
Ambassador and Permanent Representative
U.S. Mission to the United Nations
779 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Dear Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield:
We write to express our grave concern regarding the U.N. Human Rights Council’s newly inaugurated and permanent “Commission of Inquiry” to investigate the State of Israel for its behavior leading up to and during last year’s war of Palestinian terrorist aggression. Given the Council’s extensive record of thinly disguised anti-Semitism and anti-Israel animus, it is clear that this commission is intended permanently to assault and delegitimize the Jewish state.
On May 27th, the Human Rights Council adopted a resolution calling for an investigation of Israel’s conduct as they defended against more than 4,300 missiles and rockets from Hamas terrorists. Despite its passage, not a single Western democracy voted in favor of this farcical resolution1; the language of this overtly biased document created an “ongoing independent, international commission of inquiry” with a sweeping mandate to investigate:
…All alleged violations of international humanitarian law and all alleged violations and abuses of international human rights law leading up to and since April 13, 2021, and all underlying root causes of recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict, including systematic discrimination and repression based on national, ethnic, racial or religious identity.2
The resolution’s intentional ambiguity guarantees against a well-defined boundary to the investigation. Its unrestrained presumption regarding “underlying root causes” encourages the exploitation of historical revisionism in service of anti-Israel policy – to include the UN’s discredited and expansive definition of a “right of return” for Palestinian refugees – and will lend international credibility and support to those who wish to imperil the integrity of the Jewish state.
This latest iteration of the United Nations’ never-ending diplomatic warfare campaign against Israel aims to criminalize Israel’s right to self-defense and encourage continued terrorist activity. It also represents a far more serious escalation against Israel specifically – of all the 33 Commissions of Inquiry created by the Human Rights Council in the past, this is the only Inquiry mandated to both investigate something as non-explicit as “root causes” and recommend remedial actions that third parties may take against Israel, the so-called “occupying Power.” The fact that this Inquiry serves in a de facto apologetic capacity for the actions of the Hamas terrorist group is nothing short of reprehensible and appalling.
While the demonization of Israel remains a critical justification for the Council’s existence, this “Inquiry” is only one of two such bodies ever created with a continuing mandate. As constituted, it never needs to be revisited or renewed; it is further required to report semiannually (and in perpetuity) to both the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly.3 Accusing Israel of “human rights violations... in... Palestine [sic] and other ‘occupied Arab territories’” is now a codified obligation of this US Taxpayer-subsidized Council. The forthcoming reports, which rely on the “testimonies” of notorious anti-Israel NGOs, will undoubtedly accuse Israel of various human rights crimes and be weaponized for ongoing boycott efforts and economic warfare against the State of Israel.
The Council’s latest action will further empower terrorist groups and encourage the commissioning of terrorist activity. Following last May’s war, Hamas’ Ministry of Information estimated that the Palestinians needed $323 million in aid to recover. They received four to five times that amount in international assistance, with Egypt and Qatar offering approximately $500 million, respectively. If groups like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad can instigate conflict, isolate Israel at prominent international forums, and receive far more in assistance than the damage they cause, they have every incentive to do so again.
We urge the Human Rights Council to abandon its singular anti-Israel focus and investigate the very real human rights practices of some of its own members, particularly the People’s Republic of China, which has not yet been formally condemned by the Council for their ongoing genocidal campaign against the Uyghurs. Since 2006, Israel has been condemned by the United Nations 95 times, 95 more times than the People’s Republic of China over the same time span, and nearly nine times more than has been received by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
This Council, clearly, is far more invested in delegitimizing Israel by whatever means possible, and is more than willing to stoop so low as to attack a sovereign nation for defending its own citizens. If terrorist groups launched relentless attacks against the United States from Canada or Mexico, it’s hard to imagine our government sitting still so as to avoid earning the ire of the international community. By attacking Israel’s right to self-defense, the UN’s Human Rights Council - and this new “Commission of Inquiry” by extension – is attacking Israel’s right to exist. Our Nation simply cannot stand by and allow that to happen.
The cause of peace in the region may come to fruition only by properly characterizing the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians; there is nothing immoral and/or untoward about the State of Israel defending its citizens against the brutish assaults of Palestinian terrorists. For as long as God grants this Nation life, we must work to preserve and fortify the defensive posture of our Israeli allies. If Palestinian terrorists and its supporters would lay down their arms, peace would reign tomorrow. If the Israelis are denied the right to self-defense, they will cease to exist.
This choreographed farce of an Inquiry will serve only to further erode the credibility and trustworthiness of the United Nations in serving as an even-keeled and impartial arbiter, and will foment only greater levels of distrust and animosity between Israel and the Palestinians. If this Administration insists on lending our credibility to the United Nations Human Rights Council, we insist that you use our Nation’s vote, voice, and influence to finally remove Israel as a UN Human Rights Council agenda item and eliminate this intrinsically counterproductive Inquiry.
Respectfully,
Reps. Babin, Bacon, Balderson, Banks, Boebert, Budd, Cawthorn, Cole, Duncan, Fleischmann, Gibbs, Gohmert, Good, Grothman, Harris, Hern, Herrell, Higgins, Hudson, Mike Johnson, Ronny Jackson, Bill Johnson, Keller, Lamalfa, Lamborn, Letlow, Mace, McClintock, Mary Miller, Mast, McKinley, Norman, Perry, Adrian Smith, Chris Smith, Steube, Smucker, Tenney, Tiffany, Van Drew, Waltz and Weber.