The Obama administration refused to participate in a U.N. Human Rights Council meeting on Israeli settlements and slammed the body for its "disproportionate" focus on Israel.

The Geneva-based council on Monday debated a January special report on the settlements that called for Israel to immediately withdraw from the West Bank and suggested Israel may be liable for war crimes if it does not leave.

B'nai B'rith International's representative at the United Nations in Geneva, Klaus Netter, said in a statement to the council that the report was counterproductive.

"Far from advancing the peace process between the two main parties, the fact-finding mission report has only reinforced Israel’s doubts about returning to active participation in this council and produced yet another source of conflict that may occupy this council’s attention for months or years to come," he said...more.

B’nai B’rith International’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva Klaus Netter spoke before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) addressing the anti-Israel bias that has consumed the council, its latest reports and resolutions.

In February, a council-ordered “fact-finding mission” report stated that Israel must withdraw from all settlements or Israelis could be tried for war crimes at the International Criminal Court. The panel also suggested that businesses cut ties to business interests in the settlements...more.

The world’s oldest Jewish service organization, B’nai B’rith, has spoken out at the UN Human Rights Council against what it calls an anti-Israel report by Richard Falk on the state of human rights in Israeli and Palestinian territories.

In a statement the B’nai B’rith main Geneva representative Klaus Netter slammed the report, saying that neither the text nor the recommendations it contained met “any standard of fairness”...read more.