US says UN’s Nakba commemoration reflects ‘institutional anti-Israel bias’

Explaining the decision not to attend today’s United Nations event commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, the spokesman for the United States Mission to the UN says Washington “does not support events [that are] organized or in support of the institutional anti-Israel bias.”

Nonetheless, “the United States continues to recognize the plight of Palestinian refugees,” US mission spokesman Nate Evans says in a statement.

“The United States supports actions in the UN that bring the parties together and lay the groundwork for a negotiated two-state solution and has also been focused on encouraging the parties to take steps to de-escalate tensions and restore mutual confidence,” Evans continues. “At the same time, the United States has longstanding concerns over anti-Israel bias within the UN system, which is also counter-productive to peace.”

US President Joe Biden’s administration has consistently sided with Israel at the UN, blocking roughly half-a-dozen resolutions and statements, and weighing in on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at Jerusalem’s behest. While it has sometimes taken the same positions as member states against Israeli policy in the West Bank, the administration has insisted that the UN is not the correct forum for adjudicating the conflict.