Title: A resolution calling for the dissolution of the biased United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution opposes anti-Israel bias of the United Nations (U.N.) Human Rights Council and other international organizations, including by calling for the Department of State to work towards dissolving the U.N. Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 862 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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117th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 862

 Calling for the dissolution of the biased United Nations Independent 
    International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian 
            Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            December 7, 2022

   Mr. Cardin (for himself and Mr. Hagerty) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Calling for the dissolution of the biased United Nations Independent 
    International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian 
            Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.

Whereas, shortly after the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in May 2021, the United 
        Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) launched an open-ended 
        investigation into the actions of Israel during the conflict;
Whereas the investigation, which serves to discredit the only Jewish state, is 
        likely to further fuel anti-Semitism worldwide;
Whereas the mandate of the United Nations Independent International Commission 
        of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East 
        Jerusalem, and Israel (referred to in this preamble as the 
        ``Commission'') is to investigate in the West Bank, Gaza, East 
        Jerusalem, and Israel all alleged violations of international 
        humanitarian law and all alleged violations and abuses of international 
        human rights law leading up to and since April 13, 2021;
Whereas the creation of the Commission is consistent with the continued bias of 
        the UNHRC against Israel and the disproportionate use of resources in an 
        ongoing campaign to disparage, discredit, and denounce Israel;
Whereas, on October 16, 2021, after the United States was reelected to the 
        UNHRC, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated that the UNHRC ``suffers 
        from serious flaws, including disproportionate attention on Israel'' and 
        that the United States and other countries ``must push back against 
        attempts to subvert the ideals upon which the Human Rights Council was 
        founded'';
Whereas, on March 28, 2022, Senator Cardin and Senator Portman led a bipartisan 
        group of 68 Senators in a letter urging the Biden administration to 
        prioritize reversing the discriminatory and unwarranted treatment of 
        Israel by the UNHRC by leading a multinational effort in the UNHRC and 
        in the United Nations to end the Commission;
Whereas the Commission released a report on June 7, 2022, stating that ``the 
        continued occupation by Israel of Palestinian territory and 
        discrimination against Palestinians are the key root causes of the 
        recurrent tensions, instability and protraction of conflict in the 
        region'';
Whereas the report was presented at the 50th session of the UNHRC on June 13, 
        2022, and concluded by stating that the Commission will conduct 
        investigations and legal analysis into alleged violations and abuses by 
        Israel and will work with judicial accountability mechanisms toward 
        ensuring individual, state, and corporate accountability;
Whereas, on October 20, 2022, the Commission released a report to the United 
        Nations General Assembly, stating that ``Israeli occupation of 
        Palestinian territory is now unlawful under international law due to its 
        permanence and the Israeli Government's de-facto annexation policies'' 
        and urged that the issue to be referred to the International Court of 
        Justice;
Whereas, on November 11, 2022, the United Nations General Assembly Fourth 
        Committee voted by a margin of 98 in favor, 17 opposed, and 52 
        abstentions to urgently seek an advisory opinion from the International 
        Court of Justice on the ``prolonged occupation, settlement and 
        annexation of Palestinian territory'' by Israel; and
Whereas one-sided reporting by the Commission continues to attack Israel, while 
        ignoring the continued violence committed by Hamas and other Palestinian 
        terrorist groups: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) calls for the Secretary of State to continue to work 
        robustly toward the dissolution of the biased United Nations 
        Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied 
        Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel 
        (referred to in this resolution as the ``Commission'') to allow 
        the United Nations Human Rights Council to focus on the many 
        situations around the world that warrant a thorough and even-
        handed examination;
            (2) supports efforts by the Secretary of State to continue 
        to reduce the budget of the Commission until it is eliminated;
            (3) believes that eliminating the Commission is an 
        opportunity to fulfill the pledge made at the 76th session of 
        the United Nations General Assembly Fifth Committee by 
        Ambassador Patrick F. Kennedy that ``the U.S. stands with 
        Israel in rejecting the unprecedented open-ended mandate of 
        this Commission of Inquiry, which perpetuates a practice of 
        unfairly singling out Israel in the U.N.''; and
            (4) opposes the persistent anti-Israel bias of the United 
        Nations Human Rights Council and other international 
        organizations.
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