As the United Nations Security Council took historic harsh measures against Iraq on Monday, it appeared that Israel was keeping a very low profile in the worldwide diplomatic and economic battle against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
Analysts have argued that any highly public Israeli role would hurt U.S. efforts to galvanize a unified Arab front against Hussein.
In Washington, Deputy Ambassador Oded Eran agreed with this strategy, and said the United States has not requested any prominent Israeli role in countering Hussein.
“Let the rest of the world deal with this, because this is the only effective way,” Eran said.
At the White House on Monday, spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that Bush has not spoken to Israeli leaders since the invasion, while speaking to other worldwide leaders.
Israel’s acting permanent representative to the United Nations, Johanan Bein, said that Israel was “not active” in U.S. efforts there to mobilize support for sanctions against Iraq.
The U.S. succeeded Monday in pushing through the Security Council tough economic measures against Iraq and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait, including an arms embargo and a ban on their oil exports.
The 15-member Security Council approved the stringent measures with a 13-0 vote. Only Cuba and Yemen abstained from voting.
The resolution adopted stated that the Security Council was “determined to bring the invasion and occupation of Kuwait by Iraq to an end and to restore the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Kuwait.”
The mandatory sanctions contained in the resolution prohibit all trade, imports and exports with Iraq and Kuwait, which are under the control of Saddam Hussein.
The United Nations has imposed mandatory sanctions only twice before in its history; In 1966, it took economic measures against the white-dominated African colony of Rhodesia, which later became Zimbabwe; and in 1977 it imposed an arms embargo against South Africa, which is still in effect.
The Security Council also set up a committee to monitor whether member nations are abiding by the sanctions against Iraq.
(JTA correspondent Howard Rosenberg in Washington contributed to this report.)
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