Israel mirrored the United States by withdrawing from the United Nations Human Rights Council, adding to humanitarian concerns about war-torn Gaza and U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal to take over the enclave.
"I wish to formally inform you that Israel joins the United States and will not participate in the UNHRC," Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar wrote to the council's chair, Swiss U.N. Ambassador Jürg Lauber, on Thursday.
Sa'ar accused the 47-nation council of institutional discrimination against his nation by "advancing antisemitic rhetoric" and of behavior that "obsessively demonizes the one democracy in the Middle East: Israel."
Trump, citing similar reasons, ordered the U.S. withdrawal from the council earlier in the week; he did the same thing during his first presidency, but his successor, Joe Biden, restored U.N. membership.
Israel's U.N. Ambassador Daniel Meron in Geneva noted his country previously withdrew in 2012 and 2018, "both times hoping that there would be some dramatic reform, there would be some change, yet to no avail."
The now-defunct U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which was formed in 1946, eventually lost credibility as a politicized entity seen as overly critical of Israel, and was replaced by the Geneva-based council in 2006.
The deepening crisis follows Trump's proposal to turn Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East," his retreat from the U.N. and other international organizations, and the abrupt cessation of U.S. foreign aid.
Trump's suggestion of taking over Gaza adds it to the list of territories, alongside Canada, Greenland and the Panama Canal, that he has spoken of putting under U.S. control since he returned to the White House less than three weeks ago.
U.N. chief António Guterres, speaking from U.N. headquarters in New York, said any approach to rebuilding Gaza must "avoid any form of ethnic cleansing." It is against international law to forcibly remove civilians from any territory regardless of their country of origin.
"In the search for solutions, we must not make the problem worse," Guterres said. "It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law."
The 2 million Palestinians who call Gaza home – most of them displaced several times over – should go somewhere else and not return, Trump said.
"They're there because they have no alternative. What do they have? It is a big pile of rubble right now. I mean, have you seen the pictures of it?" Trump told reporters ahead of a press conference with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government directed Gaza's destruction after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war.
Israel's actions since – launching the largest air bombing campaign this century, killing an estimated 62,000 people, and decimating Gaza's schools, hospitals, homes and infrastructure – have drawn direct criticism from all corners of the U.N. and its top officials.
Israeli officials have responded by calling the U.N. a "terrorist organization," outlawing the operations of its Palestinian aid refugee agency UNRWA, and banning the U.N. secretary general from entering the country. Trump's use of similar language has cheered Israel.
“You cut to the chase. You say things others refuse to say,” Netanyahu told Trump at the White House press briefing. “And after the jaws drop, people scratch their heads and say, ‘You know, he’s right.’ ”
A surprise proposal over 'a real estate dispute'
Trump's announcement, which blindsided even members of his inner circle, is not the first time he has spoken of Gaza and its Mediterranean coastline as a valuable real estate asset.
Last year, Trump said Gaza could be “better than Monaco,” while Jared Kushner, his son-in-law and Middle East envoy during Trump’s first term, has described the fighting as “nothing more than a real estate dispute between Israelis and Palestinians.”
"Gaza's waterfront property, it could be very valuable, if people would focus on building up livelihoods," Kushner said in a speech at Harvard in February. “It's a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but I think from Israel's perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up.”
Faced with backlash from governments around the world, including close allies in the United Kingdom, Germany and France, Trump insisted on late Wednesday that "everybody loves" his plan. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio called the offer of a U.S. takeover "generous" and insisted it should not be viewed as "a hostile move."
Israel's Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that preparations for "special arrangements for exit by sea and air" in line with Trump's plan to remove Gazans from the territory were underway.
“The only solution to Gaza is to encourage the migration of Gazans,” said Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s extreme right national security minister who quit Netanyahu’s government over the implementation of the ceasefire, which he views as a surrender to Hamas. “This is the only solution to the Gaza problem – this is the strategy for the 'day after.' "
Regional governments, including the supposed destinations of millions made refugees by the forced exodus, Jordan and Egypt, as well as U.S. ally Saudi Arabia, flatly rejected the plan. Human Rights Watch said the plan amounts to "forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza."
“The inhumanity, illegality and absurdity of Donald Trump’s latest proposal for Palestinians in Gaza leaves me breathless,” Amnesty International's Secretary General Agnès Callamard said. “From the neighborhood states of the Middle East to Europe, from Africa to Asia, and including Latin America, there is only one possible, historical and human response: a resounding, united, collective NO.”
Riyad Mansour, Palestine's U.N. envoy, said Palestinians will not leave under any circumstances, raising the specter of military force being necessary to follow through with the plan.
The U.N. Environment Program estimates that rebuilding Gaza – including clearing unexploded ordnance, hazardous materials, and 39 million tons of debris – will take at least 15 years.
"There is not a power on earth that can remove the Palestinian people from our ancestral homeland, including Gaza," Mansour said.
"We want to rebuild it. We want to put it back together. And we ask all countries to help us in this endeavor," he said. "We are not looking for other homelands or other countries."
