WASHINGTON – Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) joined more than 60 other senators in urging the Biden administration to end the bias against Israel expressed in the United Nations Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) Commission of Inquiry on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

In May, 2021 the UNHRC approved an open-ended investigation into Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, but made no mention of rockets that Hamas fired toward Israeli civilians. 

“This Commission will not only focus on the actions Israel took in Gaza as it sought to defend its citizens, it will also have a carte blanche mandate—in perpetuity—to examine any period in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict about violations not only in the West Bank and Gaza, but also within Israel’s pre-1967 borders. The mandate made no mention of the 4,300 lethal rockets fired by Hamas toward Israeli civilians in a matter of days and no mention of Israel’s right to defend itself,” the senators wrote.

“This one-sided approach is consistent with UNHRC’s continuing bias against Israel and the disproportionate use of resources in an ongoing campaign to disparage, discredit and denounce Israel,” explained the senators.

“By comparison, the investigation of North Korea’s violations of the human rights of its people had half the staff and lasted for only a year. Additionally, egregious human rights violations such as the treatment of the Uyghurs in China are not addressed by the UNHRC at all,” they continued.

“We urge you to act upon the Administration’s commitment to defend Israel from discriminatory treatment at the Human Rights Council and throughout the UN system,” concluded the senators. 

Read the full letter here.