Israel scored a resounding diplomatic victory here Tuesday when the Arab group of nations failed for the seventh successive year to oust the Jewish state from the U.N. General Assembly.
An Arab motion to deny Israel’s credentials to the 43rd General Assembly was blocked by a vote of 95-41, with seven abstentions. It was one of the largest margins since the Arabs first attempted the maneuver in 1982.
The Arab move was defeated following a counter-motion by Norway not to consider the Arab amendment at all.
Israel’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Johanan Bein, hailed the outcome as an indication of Israel’s rising esteem in the world community.
The vote to block the Arab challenge was backed by 15 more countries than last year, when a similar Arab measure was defeated by a vote of 80-39, with 10 abstentions.
It was a “great victory for Israel,” Bein told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency right after the vote.
Clearly elated by the outcome, Bein said it was “a direct result of Israel’s developing relationship with the countries of the world.”
He attributed the outcome to the efforts of the staff of Israel’s U.N. Mission, adding, “It turns out that Israel’s standing in the world, despite the events in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, is not only not diminishing but in fact, when it comes to meaningful decisions, Israel’s standing is clearly on the rise.”
Bein noted that the increase of the vote supporting Israel from 80 to 95 “is not incidental, and it has a meaningful implication for Israel’s real status in the world community.”
Immediately after the vote, Vernon Walters, the American ambassador, and his deputy, Herbert Okun, went over to the Israeli delegation to offer congratulations.
They shook hands warmly with Bein and the other delegates. Diplomatic sources disclosed that the United States had lobbied intensively behind the scenes on behalf of Israel during the weeks before the vote.
An analysis of the results showed that only two new countries, Jordan and Niger, joined the Arab ranks this year. Neither had participated in the vote a year ago.
SOVIET VOTE DISAPPOINTING
The African states voted 24-11 in support of Israel, a major shift in sentiment since last year.
Egypt, the only Arab state that has diplomatic relations with Israel, remained steadfast in its support of Israel on the credentials issue.
Israel was supported by the entire Western bloc and 31 Latin and Caribbean countries, the notable exception being Cuba, which backed the Arabs.
There was also a change of mood among the Communist bloc countries of Eastern Europe, though not the Soviet Union.
Hungary actually voted against the Arabs, whereas last year it did not participate.
East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Poland, once supporters of the Arabs, absented themselves from the voting. So did Albania, a Communist country outside the Eastern bloc.
The People’s Republic of China abstained, as it did last year. But Israel’s biggest disappointment was the Soviet Union’s continued support of the Arab efforts to deny its credentials.
Israeli diplomats had been urging the Soviet representatives to cast a negative vote on the Arab motion. They were told, however, that a change of the Soviet voting pattern would come about only with the convening of an international conference for Middle East peace.
The motion to single Israel out from among the 123 countries whose credentials were up for General Assembly approval was introduced as an amendment by the Yemen Democratic Republic (South Yemen). It was never voted on.
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.
