DIPLOMACY
UN Hoping to Pass Anti-Semitism
Resolution
By Sarah Pollak
CBN News Reporter
Israel is hoping the
UN resolution will be passed some time this fall.
June 22, 2004
CBN.com
– (CBN News) - Israel is hoping for a new United Nations (UN) commitment
to fight growing anti-Semitism. This comes on the heels of the UN 's first-ever
conference dedicated to combating anti-Jewish hatred around the world.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is promoting a resolution condemning anti-Semitic
acts.
Annan said, "It is hard to believe that 60 years after the tragedy of
the Holocaust, anti-Semitism is once again rearing its head. But it is clear
that we are witnessing an alarming resurgence of these phenomena in new forms
and manifestations. This time the world must not, cannot, be silent."
But a professor at Columbia University Law School, Anne Bayefsky, noted that
only last fall, Ireland withdrew a general assembly resolution condemning
anti-Semitism because of Muslim and Arab opposition.
She went further, charging that "the United Nations has become the leading
purveyor of anti-Semitism, intolerance and inequality against the Jewish people
and its state. Today the UN provides a platform for those who cast the victims
of the Nazis, as the Nazi counterparts of the 21st Century."
And Annan said, "Let us acknowledge that the United Nations record on
anti-Semitism has at times fallen short of our ideals. The General Assembly
resolution of 1975 equating Zionism with racism was an especially unfortunate
decision. I am glad that it has since been rescinded."
But dwelling in the past is not enough, according to Jewish activists. European
countries report a jump in anti-Semitic attacks or vandalism linked to the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
For example, the French-Jewish community now reports more than one anti-Semitic
act a day, something the UN says it wants to end.
"When we seek justice for the Palestinians, as we must," said Annan,
"let us firmly disavow anyone who tries to use that cause to try to incite
hatred against Jews in Israel or elsewhere."
Annan is encouraging the UN member states to adopt a resolution that declares
that political developments in Israel or elsewhere can never justify anti-Semitism.
Annan said, "Are not Jews entitled to the same degree of concern and
protection? The fight against anti-Semitism must be our fight, and Jews everywhere
must feel that the United Nations is their home too."
Israel is hoping the UN resolution will be passed some time this fall.
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