(JTA) – All 100 members of the U.S. Senate signed a letter to the leader of the United Nations urging a comprehensive effort to remedy the organization’s “anti-Israel agenda.” The letter, which was sent April 27 to Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, praised his recent decision to disavow an anti-Israel report from the U.N.’s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia and identified four specific areas where further action could be taken to rectify the “unacceptable” treatment of Israel at the world body. The senators urged Guterres to eliminate or reform various standing committees focusing on issues relating to Israel, press members of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to stop advancing measures targeting Israel, reform the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, and to seek change in the Human Rights Council – in particular the elimination of Agenda Item VII, the only country-specific item on the council’s agenda, which specifically targets Israel.

“Too often, the U.N. is exploited as a vehicle for targeting Israel rather than as a forum committed to advancing the lofty goals of its founders,” the senators wrote. “These actions have at times reinforced the broader scourge of antisemitism, and distracted certain U.N. entities from their original mission.” The letter, authored by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Christopher Coons, D-Del., comes just days after Guterres, in an address to the World Jewish Congress, denounced antisemitism and said Israel deserves to be treated at the United Nations like any other country.

CAP: US Senator Marco Rubio authored letter to the UN demanding end to anti-Israel bias. (AP/Carolyn Kaster/File)