US lawmakers threaten sanctions if UN body creates special powers to target Israel

WASHINGTON

Two US lawmakers on Monday threatened sanctions if the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) creates special investigatory powers to target Israel.

Sen. Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Rep. Brian Mast, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to express their concerns about the UNHRC's "overwhelming and disproportionate" focus on Israel.

“This is part of a concerning and insidious anti-Israel trend within the United Nations, specifically as relates to the HRC, and appears to be little more than a bare-faced attempt to prop up other anti-Israel action at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ)," they wrote in a letter to the UN.

"Make no mistake, any HRC member state or UN entity that supports an Israel-specific international investigative mechanism in any form will face the same consequences as the ICC faced for its blatant overreach and disregard for sovereign prerogatives," they added.

The lawmakers urged Guterres to take “all action” and to "unequivocally reject the establishment of this open-ended mechanism at the HRC."