Knesset Begins Debate on Latest Anti-israel UN Resolution

The Knesset today began a debate on the United Nations General Assembly anti-Israel resolution which was adopted last Friday by a vote of 86-21 with 34 abstentions and 16 countries not voting. The debate is expected to last into the night with a vote to follow tomorrow. The hope is that the Likud coalition and the Labor Alignment opposition can work out a joint condemnation of the UN resolution.

That seemed unlikely this evening, however, as the Alignment is determined to criticize the government, especially the Golan Law, which the Alignment claims was a direct cause of the debate both in the Assembly and earlier in the Security Council.

The resolution adopted last Friday called for a total isolation of Israel in all spheres because of its annexation of the Golan Heights. The resolution also declared that Israel “is not a peaceloving state.”

Government spokesmen, including Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, criticized the UN, especially its pro-Soviet and Arab members. But former Foreign Minister Abba Eban said there was a cause for the anti-Israel vote and that while the UN should be criticized, so should the “unwise” Golan Law. He defended his party’s criticism of the government by saying that the world knew opinion was divided in Israel over government policies. “Why not make public relations capital out of the fact of freedom of expression in Israel ?” he asked after the Knesset debate.

SIMILARITY TO 1975 RESOLUTION NOTED

Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Yehuda Blum, who returned home yesterday for consultations in the aftermath of the UN’s latest anti-Israel action, said the resolution was dangerous because it contained certain value judgments which could have serious repercussions in the future. He noted that while the resolution had no political significance, its ideological significance should not be underestimated. Blum said the latest resolution is similar to the 1975 General Assembly resolution which equated Zionism with racism.

(Meanwhile, the General Assembly has approved without a vote the credentials of all member-states upon the recommendation of the Credentials Committee. There was no attempt to single out Israel or to challenge its credentials. There had been some concern that the resolution’s reference to Israel as “not a peace-loving state” could pave the way for its expulsion from the UN. The United States had warned that it would withdraw from the UN if there was any attempt to suspend or expel Israel from the world body.)