The General Assembly last night adopted five anti-Israel resolutions, calling for sanctions against the Jewish State and denouncing the recent agreement between Israel and the United States on closer strategic cooperation.
Yehuda Blum, Israel’s Ambassador, condemned the resolutions, charging that “instead of defusing tension and promoting reconciliation, the resolutions add more fuel to the fire” of the Mideast conflict.
One resolution, stating that the new American-Israeli accord “will increase Israel’s intransigence and its war potential and escalate its annexationist policies in the Palestinian and other Arab territories occupied since 1967,” was approved by a vote of 81-27, with 29 abstentions. The United States, Israel and West European countries voted against it.
Another resolution condemned the “increasing collaboration” between Israel and South Africa, especially in the nuclear field, which, the resolution stated, enabled Israel to subject the States of the Mideast to “nuclear blackmail.” The vote on this resolution was 101-18 with 20 abstentions.
Another resolution called for sanctions against Israel and demanded that all countries refrain from giving arms or economic aid to Israel, and urged all states to cut diplomatic ties with Israel. The vote was 84-24, and 31 abstentions.
By a vote of 137 in favor, with only Israel voting against, the Assembly adopted another resolution declaring that Israel’s decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on Jerusalem was “null and void.” The United States, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic abstained on this resolution.
The final resolution adopted by the Assembly by a vote of 121-1 (Israel), and 20 abstentions, condemned Israel’s “plundering” of Palestinian cultural property during its occupation of Beirut, and called on Israel to make full restitution of all such property through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
During last night’s session, which concluded the Middle East debate, the representatives of Iraq, Iran and Libya, repeatedly interrupted Blum’s speech, referring to him as the representative of the “Zionist entity.” Iran accused Blum of using “polluted rhetoric” in the service of “filthy American imperialism.”
In his remarks to the Assembly, Blum said that the five resolutions adopted, “instead of calling for negotiations and conciliation, they grotesquely call on states to refrain from supplying Israel — the intended victim of repeated Arab aggression — with the necessary means of defense. “
Rep. Stephen Solarz (D. N.Y.), a member of the U.S. delegation to the current Assembly session, said after the votes that “these resolutions will do nothing to further the cause of peace” in the Mideast.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
