U.S. to join anti-Israel U.N. Human Rights Council

The Obama Administration is reversing a Bush Administration decision to shun the anti-Israel U.N. Human Rights Council. The U.S. will participate in May elections for a seat on the 47-member council. The stated purpose is to reform the body from within. Current members are such well know human rights advocates as China, Cuba, Indonesia, Russia and Saudi Arabia. The Council has a history of ingnoring human rights and condemming Israel. According to a jta.org article,

Since its creation in 2006 to replace the widely discredited U.N. Commission on Human Rights, the council has passed 32 resolutions; 26 have been critical of Israel, according to UN Watch. More than half of the council’s members fall short of basic democracy standards, according to Freedom House, a democracy watchdog group. And in the past two years the council has moved to eliminate its country-specific special experts investigating human rights abuses in Darfur, Congo, Cuba, Belarus and Liberia.

The Anti-Defamation League has expressed concern about the Obama administration's decision. There is little chance of reforming this organization. The U.S. has only one vote on this council and most of the members are Israel haters or current human rights abusers.