House Resolution Expresses Solidarity
with Israel at the UN
(June 7, 2005)
By a
vote of 409-2, in June 2005 the House of
Representatives passed H.Res.282 expressing
their solidarity with Israel in
its fight against anti-Semitism at
the United
Nations. The test of the resolution follows:
H. Res. 282
Whereas the United Nations Universal Declaration of
Human Rights recognizes that `the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable
rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom,
justice and peace in the world';
Whereas United Nations General Assembly Resolution
3379 (1975) concluded that `Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination'
and the General Assembly, by a vote of 111 to 25, only revoked Resolution
3379 in 1991 in response to strong leadership by the United States and
after Israel made its participation in the Madrid Peace Conference conditional
upon repeal of the resolution;
Whereas during the 1991 session of the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights, the Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations
repeated the outrageous `blood libel' that Jews allegedly have killed
non-Jewish children to make unleavened bread for Passover and, despite
repeated interventions by the Governments of Israel and the United States,
this outrageous lie was not corrected in the record of the Commission
for many months;
Whereas in March 1997, the Palestinian observer at
the United Nations Commission on Human Rights made the contemptible
charge that the Government of Israel had injected 300 Palestinian children
with HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus, the pathogen that causes
AIDS) despite the fact that an Egyptian newspaper had printed a full
retraction to its earlier report of the same charges, and the President
of the Commission failed to challenge this baseless and false accusation
despite the request of the Government of Israel that he do so;
Whereas Israel was denied membership in any regional
grouping of the United Nations until the year 2000, which prevented
it from being a candidate for any elected positions within the United
Nations system until that time, and Israel continues to be denied the
opportunity to hold a rotating seat on the Security Council and it is
the only member of the United Nations never to have served on the Security
Council although it has been a member of the organization for 56 years;
Whereas Israel continues to be denied the opportunity
to serve as a member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights
because it has never been included in a slate of candidates submitted
by a regional grouping, and Israel is currently the only member of the
Western and Others Group in a conditional status limiting its ability
to caucus with its fellow members of this regional grouping;
Whereas the United Nations has permitted itself to
be used as a battleground for political warfare against Israel led by
Arab states and others, and 6 of the 10 emergency sessions of the United
Nations General Assembly have been devoted to criticisms of and attacks
against Israel;
Whereas the goals of the 2001 United Nations World
Conference Against Racism were undermined by hateful anti-Jewish rhetoric
and anti-Israel political agendas, prompting both Israel and the United
States to withdraw their delegations from the Conference;
Whereas in 2004, the United Nations Secretary General
acknowledged at the first United Nations-sponsored conference on anti-Semitism,
that: `It is clear that we are witnessing an alarming resurgence of
this phenomenon in new forms and manifestations. This time, the world
must not--cannot--be silent.';
Whereas in 2004, the United Nations General Assembly's
Third Committee for the first time adopted a resolution on religious
tolerance that includes condemnation of anti-Semitism and `recognized
with deep concern the overall rise in instances of intolerance and violence
directed against members of many religious communities . . . including
. . . anti-Semitism . . . ';
Whereas in 2005, the United Nations held an unprecedented
session to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the
Auschwitz concentration camp;
Whereas democratic Israel is annually the object of
nearly two dozen redundantly critical resolutions in the United Nations
General Assembly, which rarely adopts resolutions relating to specific
countries; and
Whereas the viciousness with which Israel is attacked
and discriminated against at the United Nations should not be allowed
to continue unchallenged: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That--
(1) the House of Representatives--
(A) welcomes recent attempts by the United Nations
Secretary General to address the issue of anti-Semitism;
(B) calls on the United Nations to officially and
publicly condemn anti-Semitic statements made at all United Nations
meetings and hold accountable United Nations member states that make
such statements; and
(C) strongly urges the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to develop and implement
education awareness programs about the Holocaust throughout the world
as part of an effort to combat the rise in anti-Semitism and racial,
religious, and ethnic intolerance; and
(2) it is the sense of the House of Representatives
that--
(A) the President should direct the United States
Permanent Representative to the United Nations to continue working
toward further reduction of anti-Semitic language and anti-Israel
resolutions;
(B) the President should direct the Secretary of
State to include in the Department of State's annual Country Reports
on Human Rights Practices and annual Report on International Religious
Freedom information on activities at the United Nations and its constituent
bodies relating to anti-Semitism by each of the countries included
in these reports; and
(C) the President should direct the Secretary of
State to use projects funded through the Middle East Partnership Initiative
and United States overseas broadcasts to educate Arab and Muslim countries
about anti-Semitism, religious intolerance, and incitement to violence.
Sources: Library of Congress |