New UN Human Rights Body Singles Out Israel

A proposed resolution to be adopted in Geneva at a special emergency session of the newest United Nations body would send the human rights commissioner on a rare "urgent" Middle East trip designed to document Israeli rights violations.

The proposed resolution, and the U.N. Human Rights Council's singling out of Israel for rebuke in its regular session that ended Friday, have raised concerns among American officials as well as some nongovernmental organizations that the newly created rights body would revert to the Israel-bashing and politicization that discredited its predecessor, the Commission on Human Rights, and led to that organ's demise.

In its inaugural session, the Geneva-based council passed several resolutions on general topics such as the rights of "indigenous" people and the opposition to "religious discrimination" - raised by Saudi Arabia to highlight purported anti-Muslim Danish cartoons.

The council did not pass specific resolutions on the deteriorating situation in Sudan or violations of rights in any other country.

On the last day of its inaugural session, however, it voted to condemn alleged Israeli violations.... And as soon as the session ended, the council immediately decided, with the support of more than the required third of its membership, to convene the emergency session that will begin today.