By Kaamil Ahmed
JERUSALEM
Israel has cut another $2 million in funding to the United Nations over alleged "anti-Israel votes" at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC), according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
"The [withheld] money will be used for development projects in countries that support Israel in international organizations," ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahson said in a statement released Wednesday night.
The move will effectively cut Israel's total annual UN payment to $3.7 million after its original $11.7 million payment was halved last December following the UN Security Council’s adoption of Resolution 2334.
Resolution 2334 described ongoing Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank as a "flagrant violation" of international law.
Israel has repeatedly accused the UN in general of harboring an “anti-Israel bias” and the UNHRC in particular of unfairly focusing on Israel's actions while ignoring rights abuses in other countries.
Israel boycotted a UNHRC session held last week, at which Michael Lynk, the UN’s special rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories, presented a report accusing Israel of "subjugation of the humanity of the Other”.
The U.S. also boycotted last week's UNHRC session, accusing the council of bias over an agenda item that calls for discussing Israel’s human rights record at every meeting.
