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Blum: Spirit of Camp David Has Not Yet Reached the UN

October 20, 1978
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Yehuda Blum, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, stated today that the spirit of Camp David, which has spread “optimism and hope for peace throughout the world” has not yet reached the corridors of the UN.

Blum made his remarks at a testimonial luncheon at the Americana Hotel sponsored by the Israel Bond Real Estate, Builders and Allied Industries Division, which honored realtor Nathan Goldman for his efforts in behalf of Israel’s economic development. More than $2.2 million in Israel Bonds were sold at the event.

Blum spoke in place of Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan, who was detained in Washington at the peace discussions. In his address, the Ambassador accused the “rejectionist states within the Arab world” as well as the Communist bloc supporters led by the Soviet Union of attempting to revive the anti-Zionist resolution against Israel at this session of the General Assembly.

He also charged many of the member nations of the General Assembly with attempting “to glorify the terrorist organization known as the PLO and to lend it international sanction and respectability” within and without the UN. “It is quite evident that all these maneuvers are but the further manifestations of the attempt to delegitimize the State of Israel within the UN and thus turn it and the Jewish people into outlaws within the family of nations.”

The General Assembly, Blum observed, “is now being invited to ‘take note’ of the ‘Zionism equals racism’ equation which was made again at a recent world conference to combat racism in Geneva.” He indicated that this was the first in a series of attempts to again condemn Zionism and to brand Israel as a state guilty of practicing racial discrimination. This procedure, he noted, is in line with the longstanding Arab-Soviet strategy employed with great success in the past in the General Assembly. He stated that the actions of these UN states are aimed at “sabotaging and subverting the peace-making process in the Middle East.”

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