UN adopts three resolutions condemning Israel, ignores Jewish ties to Temple Mount
The U.N. General Assembly passed three resolutions this week that targeted Israel, which brings the total to 14 resolutions being adopted in the next month that single out the Jewish state.
A Palestinian rioter raises his hands in a “V” for “victory” near the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Photo by Sliman Khader/Flash90
“The U.N’s assault on Israel with a torrent of one-sided resolutions is surreal,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer after the three resolutions were adopted on Wednesday. “It’s absurd that in the year 2021, out of some 20 U.N. General Assembly resolutions that criticize countries, 70 percent are focused on one single country—Israel. What drives these lopsided condemnations is a powerful political agenda to demonize the Jewish state.”
One of the resolutions from Wednesday refers to the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, only by its Muslim name, “Haram al-Sharif.” Another resolution solely puts the blame on Israel for the lack of peace in the Middle East and makes no mention of terrorist attacks and human-rights violations by the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The resolutions were adopted two days after the United Nations held its annual “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” on Nov. 29.
Neuer said France, Germany, Sweden and other European Union states are expected to support almost all of the 14 resolutions against Israel.
He added that “the same European nations have failed to introduce a single UNGA resolution on the human-rights situation in China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, Algeria or on 170 other countries. Where’s the supposed E.U. concern for international law and human rights?”
UN Watch recently launched a detailed database that documents the U.N.’s bias against Israel. It revealed that since 2015, the General Assembly has passed 115 resolutions condemning Israel and only 45 against other countries.
The Conference of Presidents condemned the U.N. resolution omitting the Temple Mount designation.
“We are deeply disturbed by the deliberate and offensive omission of the ‘Temple Mount’ designation in the ‘Jerusalem resolution,’ passed by the United Nations General Assembly, which effectively denies both Jewish and Christian connection to one of the most sacred sites for all three faith communities,” said Dianne Lob, chair; William Daroff, CEO; and Malcolm Hoenlein, vice chair of the Conference of Presidents.
They emphasized that “the vote sets a dangerous moral precedent that is both historically inaccurate and detracts from critical efforts to promote inclusivity and peace in the region. We welcome the Biden administration and the governments of Australia, Canada, Hungary, Israel, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru and Palau for rejecting this shameful and false resolution, and call upon other nations to oppose resolutions that unfairly single out and condemn Israel while needlessly exacerbate political tensions.”
The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council commended the Australian Government for voting against three anti-Israel motions in the UN General Assembly on Dec. 1, New York time.
The three motions are part of the annual UN barrage of motions which form part of the world body’s chronic demonisation of and discrimination against Israel. Between them, they accuse Israel of inhibiting freedom of religion in Jerusalem (while using only the Islamic name for the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site), blame Israel almost entirely for the lack of peace, and call on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights.
AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said, “We congratulate our Government for its principled and moral stance in voting against these motions, together with a disappointingly small number of other countries. As well as being morally wrong, these motions are counterproductive to the cause of peace. They give a free pass to the Palestinians and Syrians, who are the actual cause of the problems the motions seek to address.
“The UN will never be taken seriously by reasonable people as long as this farce continues. We are proud that the Australian Government has the moral clarity and courage to stand against the injustice that these motions represent, and can only hope that more nations emulate its example,” Dr Rubenstein concluded.
JNS/J-Wire
Decades ago Abba Eban quipped” “If Algeria introduced a resolution that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions.”.
This nonsensical, ahistoric and offensive resolution belongs to the category that Eban had alluded to. Even more, countries with Christian backgrounds are denying their own heritage to ingratiate themselves to their enemies and to reassert their underlying antisemitism.