US to end UN’s ‘obsession with Israel’

As the US takes presidency of the United Nations Security Council this month, Council President Nikki Haley has taken the unusual step of announcing that she will end the body’s obsession with Israel.

Haley will preside as President of the Council, a position which rotates within the 15-member body. Upon assuming the position, Haley stated at a press conference yesterday evening that the US would no longer allow the UN Security Council agenda to be dominated by the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Instead, the discussion will revolve around issues such as Iran’s support for terrorism, the Syrian crisis, Hezbollah and Hamas, Haley explained during the press briefing.

Since Haley’s appointment, the US has vigorously undermined the UN by describing the body as having a bias against Israel. Last week Haley organised an anti-BDS conference at the New York office of the UN, which critics say was extremely unusual given that the BDS movement was a grass root civil society campaign and has nothing to do with formal political bodies like the UN.

Read more: Israel holds anti-BDS meeting at UN

Many also point to the fact that the bias within the UN Security Council is in fact in Tel Aviv’s favour because of US tendency to veto resolutions critical of Israel. Furthermore, resolutions are not proposed by the UN per se but by individual member states which undermine the claims made by Haley and Israeli officials.

During the press briefing, Haley also revealed that she had warned Palestinian Authority representative Riyad Mansour that the US would block Arab-backed motions at the UN Security Council.

Haley mentioned that the US does not want to see any additional measures brought at the UN that would “bash Israel” or “lift up the Palestinian Authority” until negotiations start to happen.