<p>Jerusalem/Geneva: Israel has told the United Nations Human Rights Council that it is disengaging from the body, alleging it was biased, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Thursday.</p><p>Council members have frequently raised allegations of Israeli human rights violations in the Gaza war, while a U.N. inquiry it set up found last year that the immense scale of killings amounted to a crime against humanity.</p><p>Israel rejected the finding and said it takes care to avoid civilian casualties. It has long criticised the Geneva-based body and has disengaged in the past.</p><p>In a letter to UNHRC President Jorg Lauber, Saar said: "The decision was reached in light of the ongoing and unrelenting institutional bias against Israel in the Human Rights Council, which has been persistent since its inception in 2006."</p>.Israel orders army to prepare for 'voluntary departure' of Gazans after Trump unveils plan.<p>The United States, Israel's close ally, withdrew from the council on Tuesday.</p><p>The Israeli move drew disapproval from a U.N. rights expert, although Israel is not one of the council's 47 voting members and did not always attend meetings.</p><p>While the council has no legally binding power, its debates carry political weight and scrutiny can raise global pressure on governments to change course.</p><p>Sometimes, investigations mandated by the council can lead to prosecutions for war crimes in international courts.</p><p>"The Human Rights Council has been a biased body since its beginning, where dictatorships lecture democracies on human rights," Israel's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Daniel Meron, told reporters.</p><p>"Israel remains committed to human rights and will engage through credible, non politicised mechanisms," he added.</p><p>He said the move was not coordinated with Washington and probably would have happened irrespective of the U.S. withdrawal. </p>
<p>Jerusalem/Geneva: Israel has told the United Nations Human Rights Council that it is disengaging from the body, alleging it was biased, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Thursday.</p><p>Council members have frequently raised allegations of Israeli human rights violations in the Gaza war, while a U.N. inquiry it set up found last year that the immense scale of killings amounted to a crime against humanity.</p><p>Israel rejected the finding and said it takes care to avoid civilian casualties. It has long criticised the Geneva-based body and has disengaged in the past.</p><p>In a letter to UNHRC President Jorg Lauber, Saar said: "The decision was reached in light of the ongoing and unrelenting institutional bias against Israel in the Human Rights Council, which has been persistent since its inception in 2006."</p>.Israel orders army to prepare for 'voluntary departure' of Gazans after Trump unveils plan.<p>The United States, Israel's close ally, withdrew from the council on Tuesday.</p><p>The Israeli move drew disapproval from a U.N. rights expert, although Israel is not one of the council's 47 voting members and did not always attend meetings.</p><p>While the council has no legally binding power, its debates carry political weight and scrutiny can raise global pressure on governments to change course.</p><p>Sometimes, investigations mandated by the council can lead to prosecutions for war crimes in international courts.</p><p>"The Human Rights Council has been a biased body since its beginning, where dictatorships lecture democracies on human rights," Israel's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Daniel Meron, told reporters.</p><p>"Israel remains committed to human rights and will engage through credible, non politicised mechanisms," he added.</p><p>He said the move was not coordinated with Washington and probably would have happened irrespective of the U.S. withdrawal. </p>