Update: (June 19, 2007) The U.N. Human Rights Council voted unanimously in favor of the proposal for Israel to become a permanent agenda item.  More>>

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New York, NY, June 15, 2007 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today called on members of the U.N. Human Rights Council to reject the call by Council President Luis Alfonso de Alba for Israel, and Israel alone, to become part of the council's permanent agenda.

"It has never been clearer that despite the rhetoric of reform, the Human Rights Council is no better, and appears well on its way to being even worse than the hopelessly biased and corrupt commission it replaced," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "It is shameful that Israel remains the most consistent target for unjustified vilification and demonization on the agenda of the institution that is supposed to have responsibility for preserving and enhancing human rights throughout the world."

ADL this week wrote letters to the Geneva-based U.N. ambassadors of key nations who have membership on the council, urging them to "immediately intervene on this matter to rescue the very credibility and effectiveness of the council.

"The President's call for the permanent institutionalization of discrimination against Israel renders absurd President de Alba's insistence that the council adhere to the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity and non-selectiveness," said the letter from Glen S. Lewy, ADL National Chair, and Mr. Foxman.

The ADL leaders also shared their concerns about Israel's status on the agenda of the Human Rights Council in a letter to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, encouraging him to raise his voice against the council's "immoral fixation on Israel."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.