Israel’s credentials to the 35th session of the General Assembly were approved without objection last night, along with the credentials of 67 other countries, by the Assembly. The Assembly acted on the recommendation of the Credentials Committee which said that the credentials of these countries complied with the UN Rules of Procedure.
In recent months, various reports suggested that Arab and other Moslem countries would challenge Israel’s membership in the General Assembly But last week the Islamic Conference, a 39-nation group, decided in its meeting in New York to abandon its move to expel Israel from the Assembly deliberations.
Although the Assembly’s approval yesterday of Israel’s credentials sealed any possible move to expel Israel from the current session, the issue, diplomats said, could be raised later or in other sessions of the Assembly.
Following the Assembly’s decision, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Yehuda Blum, issued the following statement: “It is a measure of the decline of the UN that the question of Israel’s credentials should have been raised at all. It is evident that the sponsors of this illegitimate move have also come to realize that it was doomed to failures”
Blum added: “If there is one lesson to be learned from this episode it is that attempts at coercion and blackmail can be checked when confronted with firmness and determination.”
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