U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has announced the United States is withdrawing from the U.N. Human Rights Council, accusing the council of being biased against Israel.

Nikki Haley: “For too long, the Human Rights Council has been a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias. Regrettably, it is now clear that our call for reform was not heeded.”

The announcement of the withdrawal comes only one day after the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights slammed the Trump administration for the “unconscionable” separation of children from their parents. The Trump administration has been threatening for months to withdraw from the human rights body, which has repeatedly condemned Israel for its treatment of Palestinians, including its bloody crackdown against nonviolent protesters in Gaza. This is Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur for extreme poverty, speaking on Democracy Now!

Philip Alston: “If you’ve got eight countries in the entire world who don’t think that Israel should have been condemned for these actions, you need to ask, 'Why are these eight going against all the others?' And those eight consist of the United States, Australia and six other very small countries, very small players. Essentially, all of the countries of Western Europe, all of the United States’ allies joined in the United Nations action in relation to Israel.”

That was Philip Alston, U.N. special rapporteur for extreme poverty. He is addressing the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday.