More Skewed Focus on Israel, As UN Rights Council Creates First Open-Ended Commission of Inquiry

At an emergency meeting on Thursday, the Geneva-based Human Rights Council adopted a resolution establishing its first-ever, open-ended “commission of inquiry,” with Israel in its crosshairs.  Read

Liberal Pundit Concedes: Republicans ‘Were Earlier Than The Democrats … in Calling Out China’

The Trump administration and Republicans may have gotten many things “wrong” in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic last year, but when it came to “calling out China” they were ahead of the Democrats, a policy expert who describes himself as a progressive Democrat said on Thursday night.  Read

‘The Lab-Leak Hypothesis Was Always Reasonable,’ Says Cotton; Calls For ‘Full, Impartial’ Probe

As the case for the “lab leak” theory for the source of the coronavirus outbreak slowly builds, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), among the first voices to raise the issue, called again Monday for an independent probe into the origins of COVID-19.  Read

Taiwan Shut Out of WHO Health Assembly, Again, Despite White House Appeal

 As the World Health Organization’s annual assembly got underway this week, Taiwan’s bid to participate was quickly shot down – again – despite appeals from the world’s leading democracies, including the Biden administration, which has made re-engagement with the U.N. health agency a priority.  Read

NATO, EU, US Angered by Belarusian Plane ‘Hijacking’ and Arrest

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called for an international investigation and Western governments voiced anger Sunday after authorities in Belarus forced a commercial plane to land on its soil – allegedly by feigning a bomb threat – and arrested an exiled critic of the regime.  Read

Biden: It’s Essential ‘That Abbas be Recognized as Leader of the Palestinian People, Which He Is’

President Biden says he made clear while prodding the Israeli government towards a ceasefire with Hamas that it was essential “that [Mahmoud] Abbas be recognized as leader of the Palestinian people, which he is.”  Read

Blinken: Iran Funds ‘Extremist Groups,’ But Biden Wants to Return to Nuclear Deal Anyway

Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday acknowledged that Iran funds terrorist proxies across the Middle East, but confirmed that the Biden administration is looking to lift sanctions against the regime in Tehran anyway.  Read

More Than 1 in 4 Urgent Sessions of UN Human Rights Council Have Targeted Israel; More Coming

The U.N. Human Rights Council is planning to hold an emergency meeting next week on “the grave human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Read

Pakistan’s Israel-Bashing FM Faces Awkward Questions About Failure to Condemn China’s Xinjiang Abuses

Pakistan’s foreign minister denied during a CNN interview Thursday that his country turns “a blind eye” to the plight of Muslims in China’s Xinjiang region while condemning Israel over the situation in Gaza.  Read

Cruz: Schumer Doesn’t Want to Talk About Israel Crisis Because He Fears an AOC Primary Challenge

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) on Wednesday challenged Senate Democrats to stand up to their left-wing House colleagues, whom he said were acting as “press agents” for the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas by “parroting” its propaganda.  Read

Biden's Decision to Waive Sanctions on Putin’s Russia-to-Germany Pipeline Slammed as ‘Unacceptable’

The Biden administration’s decision to waive sanctions against the main players in the controversial Russia-Germany gas pipeline project has been welcomed by Germany and Russia, but critics in Washington are appalled.  Read

Psaki Dismisses Trump’s Mideast Efforts: ‘We Don’t Think They Did Anything Constructive …’

The Trump administration did little to advance peace in the Middle East, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki suggested yesterday.  Read

President Biden publicly expressed his admiration for Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Tuesday, calling her a “fighter” and saying he would do all he could to ensure the Palestinian American lawmaker’s relatives in the West Bank were “well.”  Read

Biden Supports Ceasefire; Cotton Says Give Israel ‘Time, Space...to Destroy Hamas' War Machine'

President Biden on Monday voiced support for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas – doing so publicly for the first time since the eruption a week ago of the worst fighting between the Jewish state and the Iran-backed Islamist terrorist group in Gaza in seven years.  Read

Erdogan: Biden Has ‘Bloody Hands’; Curses Austria for Supporting Israel

President Biden has “bloody hands” and the Austrian government is accursed for supporting Israel in its conflict with Hamas, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a fiery televised speech on Monday.  Read

Anti-Semitism Rising As Vitriol and Violence Mar ‘Pro-Palestinian’ Protests

From London to Bonn to Toronto, mass rallies condemning Israel over the conflict with Hamas in Gaza have been marred by incidents of violence and vitriol, with Jews in the firing line.  Read

Iranian Regime Tells Hamas Terrorists They Are 'Proving That Israel Is Weaker Than a Spider’s Web''

The Iranian regime on Sunday reiterated its support for the Palestinian terrorist groups firing rockets into Israeli population centers, with a top advisor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei congratulating them on their “recent victories.”  Read

Dems Split on Mideast Violence; Squad Condemns Israel, But Other Dems Stand With Our Ally

A group of progressive Democrats took to the House floor on Thursday evening to rip into Israel over its policies towards Palestinians and the current violent escalation, while others in the party focused on the impact Hamas rocket fire was having on Israeli and Palestinian civilians.  Read

‘Cynical Power Grab’: Palestinian Power Struggle Is Fueling the Violence

Hamas’ decision to start a new round of hostilities by firing barrages of rockets into Israel this week was linked to internal Palestinian power struggles and the recent decision to postpone already long-overdue elections, Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said on Thursday.   Read

GOP Senators to Biden: No Sanctions Relief for Hamas-Sponsoring Iranian Regime

At a time when Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorists are firing rockets indiscriminately into Israeli cities and towns, 44 out of the 50 Republicans in the U.S. Senate wrote to President Biden on Wednesday, urging him not to give sanctions relief “to a regime that seeks to destroy Israel.”  Read

UN Leadership, Member-States Accused of ‘Silence, Fear and Timidity’ Over Uyghurs

The Chinese state’s treatment of minority Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang came under scrutiny at an event sponsored by several Western missions to the U.N. on Wednesday, but also in the firing line was the world body itself.  Read

Which Free Nations Helped Put Iran on UN’s Gender-Equality Body?

 Three weeks after United Nations member-states voted the Iranian regime onto the United Nations’ top gender equality body, attempts to determine which democracies supported its candidacy in the secret ballot continue, but most are citing protocol and declining to say how they voted.  Read

As Death Toll Rises, Ayatollah Urges Palestinians to 'Increase Their Power and Resistance'

 As Palestinian terrorists in Gaza continued to fire hundreds of rockets into Israel, killing both Jews and Arabs, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Palestinians to step up their “resistance.”  Read

Rep. Tlaib: ‘The Israeli Government Doesn’t Want Palestinians to Exist,’ Wants to ‘Expel Them All’

“The Israeli government doesn’t want Palestinians to exist” and wants to “expel them all,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) charged on Monday, accusing the Jewish state of “apartheid” and “ethnic cleansing” and challenging the Biden administration and Democrat establishment to change their stance on conditioning U.S. aid to Israel.  Read

China: US Claims to Care About Muslims While 'Killing Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria’

Slamming the United States over its criticism of China’s policies in Xinjiang, Beijing’s mission to the United Nations said on Monday the U.S. claims to care about the human rights of Muslims “despite the world-known fact that the U.S. has been killing Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.”  Read

US Request to Invite Taiwan to World Health Assembly Is a Test for Biden's Engagement With WHO

The Biden administration has asked the head of the World Health Organization to invite Taiwan to take part in the upcoming World Health Assembly as an observer, but the U.N. health agency is batting the question back to member-states.  Read

Afghan President Slams ‘Savage’ Taliban for Massacre of Schoolgirls; Taliban Denies Responsibility

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has declared a day of national mourning and is blaming the Taliban for the weekend slaughter of dozens of schoolgirls in Kabul, accusing the group of “a crime against humanity and Islamic values.”  Read

Canada, Australia Join U.S. in Boycotting UN’s ‘Durban’ Racism Event

Canada and Australia have confirmed that they, like the United States, will not be participating in the United Nations’ commemoration later this year of the so-called Durban process, an “anti-racism” initiative that has been plagued by controversy since its launch with the World Conference Against Racism two decades ago.  Read

God Is Missing From Biden’s ‘National Day of Prayer’ Proclamation

 As American presidents have done for more than three decades, President Joe Biden this week proclaimed the first Thursday in May a “National Day of Prayer,” but unlike his predecessors’ proclamations, his included no reference to God, the Almighty, Providence, or any similar term.  Read

GOP Senators Warn That Biden’s Support for Vaccine Patent Waiver Will Benefit Russia, China

President Biden’s decision Wednesday to support the temporary waiver of intellectual property protections on COVID-19 vaccines follows appeals by Democrats arguing that it will help end the global pandemic more quickly, but some Republicans warn it could mean handing over critical American IP to adversaries like China and Russia.  Read

Brits Vote in Pandemic-Delayed Election That Could Boost Scottish Push to Break Away From UK

British voters go to the polls Thursday for a series of votes that will provide an indicator of the national mood 14 months into the coronavirus pandemic and 15 months after the United Kingdom left the European Union, two major issues that will impact many ballot box decisions.  Read

State Dept. Confirms: U.S. Will Not Attend U.N. ‘Durban’ Racism Event

The Biden administration will not take part in events at the United Nations in the fall marking the 20th anniversary of the deeply controversial World Conference on Racism and the declaration it produced, a State Department official spokesperson confirmed on background in response to queries on Tuesday.  Read

China Challenge Dominates First G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Two Years

 China was “the dominant topic” when foreign ministers from the G7 met in London Tuesday for the first face-to-face meeting in two years, a focus that will only reinforce Beijing’s suspicion that the group of leading industrialized democracies is ganging up on it.  Read

Democracies Pressed to Reveal How They Voted After Iran Elected to UN Gender Equality Body

Advocates for Iranian women’s rights on Monday slammed the regime’s recent election onto a U.N. gender equality body, and challenged democracies who took part in the secret ballot vote in New York to make their voting record public.  Read

Biden Prioritizes Africa, Middle East, South Asia in Raising Refugee Ceiling

President Biden’s new determination on refugee admissions, announced on Monday, indicates that when it comes to resettling refugees in the U.S., his administration is prioritizing those from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia over other parts of the world.  Read

Biden Adviser Says She Still Wears Mask Outdoors, ‘Out of ‘Habit’

Asked why a fully-vaccinated President Biden still wears a mask outdoors despite amended CDC coronavirus precaution guidelines, a senior White House adviser said on Sunday she finds herself doing so too, out of “habit.”  Read

US Disappoints Activists With Mild Response to Iran Leading UN Gender Equality Body

The Biden administration, which has pledged to put human rights at the center of its foreign policy, appears reluctant to speak out unequivocally against Iran’s recent election to the U.N. agency “dedicated to the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women.”  Read