Kerry said poised to defend Israel at Human Rights Council

US Secretary of State John Kerry is set to defend Israel at a session Monday session of the UN Human Rights Council, despite a political row with Israel ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress on Tuesday.

A senior official traveling with Kerry en route to the forum in Geneva told the Washington Post Sunday that the Obama Administration has invested considerable efforts in advocating on Jerusalem’s behalf in the global arena.

“President Obama, this administration and Secretary Kerry in particular have gone to [extraordinary lengths to] stand up for and defend Israeli interests in international institutions,” he was quoted as saying.

Traditionally, the United States has been a consistent backer of Israel at international forums, often wielding its veto power to soften opprobrium directed toward the Jewish State, particularly in forums such as the Human Rights Council that have denied Israel membership status.

“A constant preoccupation and concern for the United States at the Human Rights Council, as it is throughout the UN system, is the undue and biased focus on Israel,” another senior official in Kerry’s entourage told the Washington Post.

The council should “shift its focus away from Israel and really focus on the bad human rights violators throughout the world,” the official noted.

The UN Human Rights Council has been accused on multiple occasions of unfairly targeting Israel while overlooking human rights abuses perpetrated by totalitarian regimes throughout the world.

Following the conference, Kerry plans to meet with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to discuss the Islamic Republic’s controversial nuclear program ahead of a March 31 deadline for a framework deal that could seen Tehran retain some of its nuclear capabilities.

Netanyahu has repeatedly stated that the Iranian nuclear program is an existential threat to Israel and that Tehran is intent on developing nuclear weapons to use against the Jewish state.

To that effect, Netanyahu is resolved to go ahead with a speech before a joint session of Congress Tuesday to voice his opposition to the contents of the nuclear deal, raising the ire of the White House, some US congressmen and his political opponents in Israel.

Despite a barrage of criticism from Obama administration officials, including Kerry, the secretary of state spoke by phone Saturday with Netanyahu in an effort to calm tensions ahead of the speech.

Kerry has attacked Netanyahu in recent days, implying last week that the Israeli premier’s support for the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 was an indication of faulty judgment.

Last week, Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, described the timing and partisan manner of Netanyahu’s visit as “destructive” for the US-Israeli relationship.

On Sunday, Kerry painted a more positive picture of continued close cooperation. He said the US-Israeli security partnership was closer than at any point before, and noted the large investment of American money in the Jewish state’s Iron Dome missile defense system.

He said the US government has “intervened on Israel’s behalf in the last two years a couple of hundred times” — in more than 75 forums — “in order to protect Israel.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.