New York, NY, July 22, 2009 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said today that the United Nations Secretary-General sent the "wrong message" in his statement that was read at the opening of the meeting of the Committee of the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), which has ingrained bias against Israel.

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement: 

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent the wrong message to the CEIRPP by commending and supporting the committee which was created and continues to operate on the basis of anti-Israel rhetoric. In doing so, he continues to confer legitimacy and relevance on a committee whose raison d'etre is based on opposing the State of Israel. This goes against the very principles on which the U.N. was founded and undermines the role of the U.N. as a member of the Quartet.

   

How a committee that has failed to accomplish anything positive in its 35 years of existence continues to receive U.N. funding and plaudits from the international community is of serious concern, is demeaning to the U.N. and should be questioned by the member states.  It represents the worst example of institutionalized anti-Israel bias in the United Nations.

In a July 20 letter to the Secretary-General, ADL urged the United Nations to immediately dismantle the CEIRPP and provided Mr. Ban with its new report "The United Nations Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People: 35 Years of Demonizing Israel," which documents the CEIRPP's history of anti-Israel resolutions and actions from its inception through today.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.