The US State Department's 2025 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are out — and what they omit says more than what they include.

Once a respected barometer of global rights conditions, the reports have been gutted under the Trump-Rubio administration. According to NPR, the average country section is now two-thirds shorter than last year's, with some reduced by over 90%. Whole categories — women's rights, corruption, freedom of assembly — have been deleted for many allies. Human Rights Watch calls it "an exercise of whitewashing and deception" that erases "entire categories of abuses" while papering over serious violations by friendly governments.

The most blatant example is Israel. Last year's 103-page record of "significant human rights issues" in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank has been slashed to just nine pages. Entire sections on Israel's destruction of Gaza's civilian infrastructure, its use of starvation as a weapon of war, and the ICJ's genocide case against its leaders have disappeared.

Gone too are references to the International........

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