Declaring that “There is no more significant organized international campaign against the Middle East peace process than that organized at the United Nations,” an official of B’nai B’rith International urged the U.S. government today to deny “participation in and funding for” any UN forums and programs that violate the UN Charter by encouraging violence against member states.
Maurice Weinstein, chairman of the International Council of B’nai B’rith, testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations that such action would help “win back respect and adherence to the purposes and values” of the UN Charter and the constitutions of its various agencies. He noted that B’nai B’rtih, which participated as a non-governmental organization in the 1945 conference that drafted the UN Charter, retains a strong commitment to the principles and values of the Charter.
CITES HARMFUL RESOLUTIONS
While “It is clear that the peaceful settlement of disputes is at the heart” of the UN Charter, the General Assembly “with lamentable regularity” has adopted resolutions that not only denounce the peaceful settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict but endorse “armed struggle, “Weinstein said.
He cited as examples UN condemnation of the Camp David accords and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. In addition, “since 1974, the UN has welcomed, legitimized and promoted” the Palestine Liberation Organization, an organization that has been permitted to use the UN to “create obstacles to peace,” he said.
Weinstein said the U.S. “should take the lead” in informing UN member states which vote to violate the Charter that they will have to “pay the price” and the U.S. should persuade other major donor nations to do likewise.
He made it clear that the B’nai B’rith does not advocate selective funding cuts “because we disagree” with the activities promoted by the UN. “We reserve this serious sanction for a very serious process–the adoption by the UN of programs or decisions that violate the purposes of its Charter,” he said.
In that connection, Weinstein singled out the UN Women’s Decade which he charged was politicized and anti-American. He suggested that funding for the global participation of women’s rights be given instead to private agencies that can be counted on to use such funds for their intended purposes.
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