February 5, 2025 — New York, NY
In response to the Executive Order withdrawing the United States from the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and cutting funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), American Jewish Committee (AJC), the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people, welcomes the protective and supportive posture toward Israel expressed in changes to policy regarding both UN entities. AJC urges the administration to assert strong, alternative methods of global leadership on human rights issues and seek a viable alternative to UNRWA.
United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
AJC has long spoken out against the UNHRC’s bias against Israel – manifested in its creation of unique entities like the Commission of Inquiry on Israel with a one-sided, open-ended mandate, and its agenda item 7, the only standing agenda item devoted to a specific country situation. Since October 7, 2023, that bias has become even more evident. Entities created by the UNHRC have published deeply flawed assessments of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, fueling harmful resolutions against Israel in the General Assembly. UN experts under the auspices of the UNHRC have aired hyperbolic, offensive, and even antisemitic characterizations of Israel’s conduct.
For decades, U.S. administrations from both parties made only modest progress toward curbing the structural anti-Israel bias that permeates the UNHRC and not enough progress in blocking gross human rights violators from election to the body. But experiences of past administrations have shown that U.S. withdrawal from UNHRC will not change the Council’s harmful behavior for the better. Absent the moral clarity and diplomatic engagement of the U.S., treatment of Israel will likely only worsen.
Additionally, U.S. withdrawal from the UNHRC will also likely have the detrimental impact of removing U.S. diplomatic support from hard-fought initiatives that have focused international scrutiny on malign actors. Key among these is Iran, which is currently the subject of an Independent Fact-Finding Mission to investigate the deadly crackdown that followed Jina Mahsa Amini’s killing by Iran’s morality police. The Mission has called for Iran’s authorities to be held accountable for crimes against humanity.
While not a silver bullet, when the U.S. has a seat at the table, it is better positioned to challenge the UNHRC’s obsessive focus on Israel, mobilize coalitions of member states to express their resolve to counter antisemitism, create consensus in condemning human rights violators that seek to whitewash their egregious domestic records at the UN, and push back against those who would challenge core U.S. values and interests. In the absence of U.S. participation in the UNHRC, the U.S. must collaborate with allies who are UNHRC members to oppose anti-Israel bias and ensure the survival of country-specific scrutiny of gross violators. Simultaneously, the U.S. should pursue other bilateral and multilateral initiatives to shine a light on, and ensure accountability for, atrocities in Iran, Venezuela, Ukraine, Afghanistan, Sudan, North Korea, and China.
United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)
AJC has long highlighted the problematic nature of UNRWA, which is the only UN refugee institution that deals with a singular population–the Palestinian people. Unfortunately, for decades, the agency has also served as a vehicle for the advancement of Palestinian goals against Israel. It has detracted from the cause of a negotiated, peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and, to the detriments of peace, instead of helping solve the refugee problem, it has endeavored to perpetuate it. What’s more, UNRWA has been complicit in teaching generations of Palestinians deeply problematic curricula that promote and glorify violent antisemitism and deny Israel’s right to exist.
Most recently, following Hamas’ October 7, 2023, massacre of Israelis, it was revealed that multiple UNRWA employees participated in the brutal attacks. In addition, returning hostages have revealed that they were held captive in UNRWA facilities, and hundreds of UNRWA employees are said to have links to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
Though UNRWA is deeply flawed and inherently problematic, we are keenly aware that it also plays a substantial role in the delivery and distribution of aid to Palestinian civilians. While we welcome American efforts to address the problematic nature of UNRWA, the U.S. and the international community must work urgently to either shore up other existing entities delivering services and aid to Palestinians or create a new viable alternative to UNRWA.
AJC is the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people. With headquarters in New York, 25 regional offices across the United States, 15 overseas posts, as well as partnerships with 38 Jewish community organizations worldwide, AJC’s mission is to enhance the well-being of the Jewish people and Israel and to advance human rights and democratic values in the United States and around the world. For more, please visit www.ajc.org.
###
