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International Affairs
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Anti-Israel Bias at the U.N.
Introduction
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September 21, 2007
While there have been some positive developments for Israel at the United Nations, the international body continues its history of bias against the Jewish State. Indeed, in a private meeting in April 2007, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon acknowledged that Israel has been treated poorly at the U.N. and that while some progress has been made, this situation continues.
The Jewish community has always held mixed feelings about the United Nations. While the U.N. created the State of Israel, the international body has a history of a one-sided, hostile approach to Israel.
- Of 10 emergency special sessions called by the U.N. General Assembly (GA), six have been about Israel. No emergency sessions have been held on the Rwandan genocide, ethnic cleaning in the former Yugoslavia, or the two decades of atrocities in Sudan.
- A series of anti-Israel resolutions are passed each year by the GA.
- The U.N. Human Rights Council, which replaced the Commission on Human Rights in March 2006, has been no better than its hopelessly ineffective predecessor, with Israel remaining the most consistent target for unjustified vilification and demonization.
- For decades Israel was the only member nation consistently denied admission into a regional group. The Arab states continue to prevent Israeli membership in the Asian Regional Group, Israel's natural geopolitical grouping. As a result, Israel sought entry into the Western and Others Group (WEOG) and in May 2000 was granted admission to that regional group in New York, but not in Geneva, the seat of several U.N. bodies and subsidiary organizations. Israel's full participation in the U.N., therefore, is still limited and it is restricted from participating in U.N.-Geneva based activities.
There have been some recent positive developments at the United Nations with several Israeli diplomats appointed to various positions at the United Nations. In addition, the U.N. has begun to address other issues of concern to the Jewish community, particularly anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.
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