Israel expressed satisfaction today over the United States’ veto last night of a Security Council resolution that condemned Israel’s Dec. 2 air raids on terrorist strongholds in Lebanon but failed to mention terrorist assaults on Israel. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the U.S. had thwarted another one-sided resolution by which the Security Council and the General Assembly would again ignore the “abominable crimes” of the terrorist organizations. The U.S. has thus defended the basic principles of justice, international law and the aims of the UN when it was set up 30 years ago, the Ministry said.
Thirteen of the 15 Security Council members voted for the resolution, including Britain and France. Costa Rica abstained and the U.S. cast the only negative ballot constituting a veto. The U.S. came under a barrage of Arab criticism for its veto.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Chaim Herzog, applauded the veto as an act of common decency against discrimination. He accused the other members of the Council of a lack of morality, noting that they had earlier opposed U.S. efforts to balance the condemnation of Israel with an equal condemnation of terrorist acts. It is symptomatic that a move to balance a resolution should have been voted down, thus obliging the U.S. to take a moral stand, he said.
In casting his veto, U.S. Ambassador Daniel P. Moynihan cited America’s role as mediator in the Middle East conflict and said the U.S. could thus only support an even-handed resolution. When proposed American amendments relating to terrorist raids on Israel were rejected, Moynihan, who was in constant contact with Washington last night, was authorized to veto the measure. The decision reportedly was made by Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger.
The British Ambassador, Ivor-Richard, who is this month’s Security Council President, said he voted for the resolution because there could be no justification for attacks on the scale of the Israeli raids on Lebanon last week. He said Britain could not accept the principle that any government has the right to take the law into its own hands in this way. He also intimated that the Israeli raids may have damaged prospects for reconciliation in the Lebanese civil war.
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