United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar was urged by B’nai B’rith International to use all of his powers to discourage member-nations from violating the UN’s Charter and rules of procedure affecting due process for every member state.
Such violations “have stigmatized the United Nations as a lawless institution,” said Jack Spitzer, B’nai B’rith president, who led a delegation from the Jewish organization’s International Council in a meeting with the new leader of the world body. Perez de Cuellar responded by reaffirming his inaugural commitment to be “independent impartial and politically active.”
The delegation voiced particular concern over what it described as illegal attempts by the UN General Assembly to impose sanctions on Israel or to mandate the Jewish nation’s exclusion from the world organization. The B’nai B’rith group suggested “a more balanced” flow of information about the Arab Israel conflict than the “distorted and one-side publications” emanating from the UN’s special unit charged with dealing with the Palestinian issue.
The delegation said the Secretary General should consider speaking out on transnational terrorism and citing the 1975 resolution that equated Zionism with racism, asked him to “intercede forcefully” against anti-Jewish bigotry in the UN.
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