Israel and Human Rights
January 31, 2013 
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/opinion/israel-and-human-rights.html?_r=0 \t _blank http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/01/opinion/israel-and-human-rights.html?_r=0
Re “http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/31/opinion/israel-ducks-on-human-rights.html \t _blank Israel Ducks on Human Rights” (editorial, Jan. 31): 
Israel’s record on human rights should be under scrutiny, as every country’s should. But the last place that should be done is the United Nations Human Rights Council. Though the council’s mission is to monitor human rights, its record is one not merely of bias against Israel but of obsession with it. 
With the world witnessing huge atrocities from Syria to Iran to Sudan to Congo, the majority of the council’s votes focus on Israel. The subject of Israel is the only one on the permanent agenda. Time and again, Israel is condemned while the deliberate targeting of Israeli civilians by Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups is ignored. And the threats to destroy Israel from the president of a member country, Iran, go unmentioned. 
Contrary to your view, Israel’s refusal to participate in this charade will not undermine the need for universal standards and nudging countries to make changes. What undermines the process and the mission of the council is the obscene way it distorts its purpose in dealing with Israel. 
Your editorial would have done better criticizing the bias, hypocrisy and unbalanced propaganda of the council, and by commending Israel for standing up against the travesty that is the Human Rights Council. Through that approach, there might be hope that it will be reformed to become a body truly pursuing its lofty mission. 
ABRAHAM H. FOXMAN
National Director
Anti-Defamation League
New York, Jan. 31, 2013