U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry criticized the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday for being obsessed with Israel.
In a speech to the U.N. intergovernmental body in Geneva, Kerry said the group's obsession with alleged human rights abuses committed by Israel undermines the entire organization's credibility.
"It must be said that the HRC's obsession with Israel actually risks undermining the credibility of the entire organization," Kerry said, reported Reuters.
The latest U.N. probe into Israel is over allegations that it committed war crimes against Palestinians during the 50-day war it waged against Gaza militants in July and August of 2014. Some 2,200 Palestinians and 72 Israelis were killed in the fighting. Of the Palestinians killed, nearly all were civilians, while almost all Israelis killed were military personnel.
Netanyahu has called for the entire probe to be scrapped, saying the commission is an "anti-Israel body," reported VOANews.
Kerry stood firmly beside Israel on Monday, saying, "We will oppose any effort by any group or participant in the U.N. system to arbitrarily and regularly delegitimize or isolate, Israel."
Kerry added that all countries should be reprimanded for human rights abuses, but no country should be subjected to "unfair or unfounded bias" as he believes Israel has been.
The comments were made just a day before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to make a controversial speech before a joint session of the U.S. Congress in Washington.
Netanyahu is expected to warn of the negative repercussions that would result from world powers and Iran reaching an agreement on Tehran's nuclear program. Iran would still have the ability to make a nuclear weapon, and that would threaten Israel's very existence, Netanyahu alleges. Instead, he is likely to trump up support for increased sanctions.
Kerry also took aim at North Korea's human rights record, calling it "appalling" that tens of thousands of people live in the country "as virtual slaves."
"There is no freedom of expression, worship or political dissent," Kerry said, according to Reuters. "Kim Jong-un executes those who disagree with him, purging his country of anyone he knows, or imagines, to be disloyal. For decades the government has subjugated its citizens, starving and torturing and incarcerating them or worse."
