Klutznick Says That Despite Unbalanced Resolutions World is Better off for Having UN

Philip M. Klutznick, an American Jewish leader and a former member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations with the rank of Ambassador, believes that despite its “failures in peace-keeping and miserably unbalanced resolutions of the General Assembly and even the Security Council.” mankind is better off with the world organization than if it did not exist.

Klutznick made his statements, both commendatory and critical of the UN, in an address delivered at the Conference on United States Objectives in the United Nations System held at the Ralph Bunche Institute of the United Nations, City University of New York Graduate School. “When some fine and able people go so far as to suggest that we can find other ways of doing good rather than to tolerate the bad that the UN does, they have permitted their justified pique over a reprehensible act to outweigh their practical sense and understanding of the world in which we live,” Klutznick said.

He referred directly to the remarks by the former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Daniel P. Moynihan. who said after last November’s General Assembly resolution identifying Zionism as a form of racism, that “If there were no General Assembly, this could never have happened.” Klutznick observed. “I confess my admiration for Ambassador Moynihan’s candor and his depth of feeling for my people and the State of Israel. But I would remind him if there was not a General. Assembly, the feeling expressed in the miserable, obscene resolution might never have surfaced in such malignant form, but would have been there nonetheless to fester as a sore in the body politic until its poison would be beyond a serum or a cure.”

PLATFORM TO WARN WORLD

Klutznick noted that “The same General Assembly that committed this sin against a small people provided a platform for Ambassador Moynihan to warn the world and especially the Western World of the danger in our midst.” He went on to say that “Realistically, the General Assembly resolution on Zionism and racism is a disgrace. But the reality is that the General Assembly cannot make Zionism racism by calling it that. Supreme Court Justice Cardozo in a much cited opinion stated that a legislative body has tremendous power but the power does not extend to declaring black white and white black.

“I am deeply hurt by the majority that from time to time gangs up on a little state in which I have a profound interest. But Israel has not with drawn and other states that have been deeply offended in the UN process have not withdrawn. The fact is and we all know it–cooperation is far more difficult to attain and sustain than war. It demands greater compassion, understanding and patience.”

Klutznick warned that “This is our world and those of us who believe in ‘good’ triumphing over ‘evil’ had better not express a liking for evil hiding itself to perform its satanic deeds–as distasteful and discouraging as it may be we might as well recognize that exposure of these problems of each day and year is a major function of the UN system. If we do not prevent their occurrence or stop them when we see them in broad daylight, it is not the failure of the UN system but rather of the forces of ‘good’ that must be blamed.”