Appreciation for five rejections at UNHRC
Australian Jewish organisations have voiced their reactions to the country’s voting against five anti-Israel resolutions in the United Nations Human Right Council.
The United Nations Human Rights Council chamber in Geneva. Credit: U.N. Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) welcomed Australia’s principled decision to be the only country to vote against all anti-Israel resolutions. The UNHRC has long suffered from systemic bias against Israel particularly due to Agenda Item 7 which is the only such permanent agenda item dedicated to a single country. As Australia’s Ambassador to the UN Sally Mansfield stated: “Our vote against these resolutions represents a vote against the disproportionate focus that holds Israel to a higher degree of scrutiny than any other state.”
AIJAC’s Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said, “We thank the Australia government for its consistent moral courage in calling attention to the UNHRC’s politicisation and systemic bias against Israel, which has undermined not only the credibility of the UNHRC but also its intended mission of holding genuine human rights abusers to account.”
The ZCNSW strongly applauds Australia for its inspiring leadership in standing with Israel at the UN Human Rights Council, by being the only country to vote against each of the five grossly biased, obscene, one-sided and counterproductive resolutions against the Jewish state presented in Geneva during the current sitting.
Last year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison stood before our community in accepting the Jerusalem Prize, noting that “the UN was born out of the horrors of World War II, born out of an ethos of ‘never again'” … but “has allowed antisemitism to seep into its deliberations, all under the language of human rights”.
This is evident no more so than at the UN Human Right Council, which just elected Venezuela to its membership and disproportionately singles out the Jewish state, while turning its back on relentless Palestinian terror and incitement.
Scott Morrison firmly reiterated that the Australian Government was “not going to buy that”, because “we know the character of our friend Israel and we will defend it.”
Yet again, true to his word, the Prime Minister and the Australian Government did just that, in unequivocally standing with Israel and rejecting each of these one-sided resolutions, that do nothing to advance peace, but only condemn the Jewish state.
The ZCNSW thanks the Australian Government for its unwavering solidarity with Israel and its brave & principled leadership at the UN. We truly could not ask for a better friend and ally.
Jeremy Leibler, president of the Zionist Federation of Australia commented: “Mr Morrison and Senator Payne have shown consistent leadership in refusing to kowtow to the UN’s obsessive focus on Israel”, said Mr Leibler. “The votes in Geneva have proven once again that the prime minister was deserving of the Jerusalem Prize, which I gave him last November, due to his strong leadership on Israel in the UN and elsewhere. As I told him in November, ‘true leadership shines bright. Yours is true leadership, Prime Minister.’”
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry‘s statement of appreciation was published yesterday.
