Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Chaim Herzog, declared last night that the 30th session of the General Assembly just ended was a “concentration of cynicism, hypocrisy and one-sidedness” and warned that the “one-sided” resolutions it adopted against Israel have proved to be “counter-productive” and did more damage to the world body than to Israel.
At the same time, U.S. Ambassador Daniel P. Moynihan, said in a speech delivered at the closing session last night that the 30th Assembly “has been a profound, even alarming disappointment,” Herzog, speaking at a press conference, and Moynihan addressing the Assembly plenary, were summing up their countries’ views of the three-and-a-half months of Assembly debate that began in September.
Herzog reiterated the Israeli charge that “the General Assembly turned into a tool of despotism and extremism.” He declared that by declaring Zionism a form of racism it is now “the main center of anti-Semitism in the world.” The Israeli envoy said the “most striking example of utter cynicism that characterizes this organization” is the fact that the UN completely ignored the plight of Christians in Lebanon and it was only Israel that raised that question.
Moynihan, in his 15-page speech, made no direct reference to the anti-Zionist resolutions which he had attacked vigorously in and out of the UN after their adoption in November and December. He observed, however, that “there are events that occurred in the 30th Assembly which the United States will never forget.”
UN MAY NOT SURVIVE
Earlier yesterday, Moynihan made a direct reference to the anti-Zionist measures in an interview on the CBS television “Morning News” program. He said that as a result of its decision to brand Zionism as racist, the UN “may not survive in our time.” He called the anti-Zionist measure “not just a lie, it’s a lie that has offended people in nations all over the world. And it affects not just the General Assembly but it radiates through all the structures of the United Nations, practically paralyzing it….UNESCO is about to jump off the cliff on the same issue.”
The General Assembly ended its 30th session with the adoption by substantial majorities of four Arab-inspired resolutions dealing with the work of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories.
The resolutions assailed Israel’s treatment of the Arabs in those territories condemned Israeli settlements there and the “illegal exploitation of the natural wealth and resources” in the occupied areas. Herzog denounced the report of the Special Committee as “one-sided and inaccurate…based on a mass of falsehoods”…and “a disgrace to any self-respecting organization.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
