Israel has apparently written off the 15-member United Nations Security Council in its present composition as a body from which it can expect fair treatment. The Government may announce shortly that it will not carry out Security Council resolutions that are contrary to Israel’s interests, it was reliably learned here yesterday. This position was believed to have been taken following consultations in the Foreign Ministry with Israel’s chief representative to the UN, Ambassador Yosef Takoah.
It was pointed out that six of the Security Council’s present members have no diplomatic relations with Israel. It was noted further that any anti-Israel resolution can automatically count on getting eight votes and only nine are required for passage.
Israel however is expected to continue utilizing the UN and its agencies as a meeting place for bilateral diplomatic activities and a world forum for its views.
Two of the five permanent members of the Security Council do not have diplomatic relations with Israel–the Soviet Union and Nationalist China. China never recognized Israel, which recognized Communist China but has never had diplomatic relations with it. The Soviet Union, which has a veto power, broke off relations with Israel during the Six-Day War. One member of the Security Council–Algeria–observes a state of belligerency against Israel. It participated in the Six-Day War, still has military units serving with the Egyptian forces on the west bank of the Suez Canal, and refused to agree to the cease-fire which ended the 1967 war. The other three Security Council members which do not recognize Israel are Hungary, which followed the Soviet Union’s lead in severing relations; Pakistan, a Moslem state which never recognized Israel; and Spain, which became a member of the Council on Jan. 1. Spain has never had diplomatic relations with Israel but there was some cooperation between the two countries a year ago in opposing Common Market restrictions on citrus imports from non-members of the European Economic Community.
(During the United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee questioning this week of Charles W. Yost, subsequently confirmed by the Senate as President Nixon’s Ambassador to the United Nations, he said the W. S. would not refrain from using its Security Council veto if it ever was confronted with a resolution endangering the “national interest.” The veto has never been used. He was asked by the Committee’s newest member, Sen. Jacob K. Javits, New York Republican, why the Soviet Union uses its veto on any resolution affecting the Arabs, but the U.S. does not to the same on behalf of Israel. Mr. Yost said, “There is no official policy against using the veto.” He said that it has not been exercised to date because the Council had not voted a resolution “we thought sufficiently dangerous to block.” A veteran diplomat, Mr. Yost has served on the U.S. delegation.)
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.
