Risch, Mast threaten to sanction UN, member states if council creates open-ended Israel probe

Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), the chairs respectively of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, penned a letter on Tuesday to António Guterres, secretary-general of the United Nations, threatening to sanction the global body and its member states if it creates “special investigatory powers to target Israel.”

“This is part of a concerning and insidious anti-Israel trend within the United Nations, specifically as relates to the Human Rights Council, and appears to be little more than a bare-faced attempt to prop up other anti-Israel action at the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice,” the members of Congress wrote.

“Make no mistake, any Human Rights Council member state or U.N. entity that supports an Israel-specific international investigative mechanism in any form will face the same consequences as the International Criminal Court faced for its blatant overreach and disregard for sovereign prerogatives,” they stated. “We urge you to take all action and to unequivocally reject the establishment of this open-ended mechanism at the Human Rights Council.”

The members wrote that the United Nations has a vote scheduled this week on creating an “international investigative mechanism focused solely on Israel.”

They added that the council’s “one-sided focus on Israel undermines the legitimate and genuine threat posed by real human rights abusers,” including “the Hamas terrorists who continue to hold dozens of hostages like American Edan Alexander.”