Germany reportedly has told Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that Israel faces “serious consequences” if it does not restore its former relationship with the U.N. Human Rights Council. Avigdor Lieberman, who was Foreign Minister last year, cut Israel’s ties with the panel after it announced it was going to investigate the Jewish presence in Judea and Samaria and areas of Jerusalem claimed by the Palestinian Authority.
The Haaretz newspaper, whose reports sometimes are not exact, reported that German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle sent the warning in a letter on Friday.
It allegedly noted that the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review requires all members of the United Nations to participate. He warned that Israel’s lack of cooperation would make it diplomatically isolated.
Israel has made moves in the past several weeks to resume ties with the Council but, according to Haaretz, has demanded that the Council stop automatically making human rights in Israel an issue for discussion at every meeting.
