President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday withdrawing the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and cutting funding to UNRWA, the U.N. relief agency for Gaza, which has been widely criticized following reports that its staffers were involved in terrorism.
The order, which will reinstate policies from Trump's first term, will cite anti-Israel bias within both the council and UNRWA, Politico reported. The Biden administration last year suspended funding to the UNRWA for one year after reports emerged that some staffers had been involved in Hamas's October 7 terrorist attack on Israel.
The UNHRC "has not fulfilled its purpose and continues to be used as a protective body for countries committing horrific human rights violations," the Trump administration said in a fact sheet, according to Politico.
"The UNHRC has demonstrated consistent bias against Israel, focusing on it unfairly and disproportionately in council proceedings," the document reads. "In 2018, the year President Trump withdrew from the UNHRC in his first administration, the organization passed more resolutions condemning Israel than Syria, Iran, and North Korea combined."
The Tuesday order will also direct Secretary of State Marco Rubio to identify international organizations, conventions, and treaties that "promote radical or anti-American sentiment," Politico reported.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), Trump's nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, said in her confirmation hearing last month that she would push for U.N. reforms and ensure that U.S. funding is going only to U.N. programs "that work, that have a basis in the rule of law, that have a basis in transparency and accountability, and strengthen our national security and our partnerships."
Trump is also set to meet with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday. Netanyahu has said he and Trump will discuss "victory over Hamas, achieving the release of all our hostages and dealing with the Iranian terror axis in all its components."