NEW YORK, December 20, 2023 — The UN General Assembly rebuked Israel on Tuesday in three separate resolutions, concluding the world body’s 2023 legislation with a total of 14 resolutions that single out the Jewish state, and seven on the rest of the world combined.
There was one resolution each adopted yesterday for the regimes of North Korea, Iran, Syria and Myanmar, and one on Russia’s violations in Crimea. Earlier in the year, there was one resolution deploring Russian aggression in Ukraine, and one condemning the U.S. for its embargo of Cuba. (Click here for texts and voting sheets.)
“The UN’s latest assault on Israel with a torrent of one-sided resolutions is surreal,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, an independent non-governmental watchdog organization in Geneva.
“It’s absurd that in the year 2023, out of 21 UN General Assembly resolutions that criticize countries, 14 of them—two thirds—were focused on a single country: Israel. Make no mistake, the purpose of the lopsided condemnations is to demonize the Jewish state,” said Neuer.
“This demonization fuels the antisemitic agitators in America today and around the world who are threatening Jews on campus, at community centers, and at their businesses.”
Today’s 3 Resolutions Against Israel
• The plenary yesterday ratified three one-sided resolutions against Israel. The resolution entitled “Oil slick on Lebanese shores” singled out Israel as the only country to be censured under the “Sustainable Development” agenda item, and refers to an alleged incident from the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. It passed by a vote of 164 to 7, with 6 abstentions. All of the EU and the UK voted in favor.
• A second resolution condemning Israel for allegedly exploiting natural resources of the Palestinians, and in the Golan, was adopted by a vote of 158 to 6, with 13 abstentions. The text makes no mention of Hamas’ commandeering of international aid money to fund the construction of terror tunnels; environmental pollution caused by Palestinian tire burning; destruction of flora and fauna with arson balloons and kites; and refusal to develop their own water resources and deal with their own sewage as required by the Oslo Accords.
• A resolution on “The right of the Palestinian people to self-determination” was adopted by a vote of 172 to 4, with 10 abstentions. Out of hundreds of self-determination claims worldwide, the General Assembly singled out one—the claim against Israel—while omitting Palestinian obligations to dismantle terrorist infrastructure before a state is to be created.
Total of 14 Resolutions Against Israel in 2023
“The UN’s disproportionate assault against the Jewish state undermines the credibility of what is supposed to be an impartial international body. When the General Assembly gives in to politicization and selectivity by discriminating against Israel, it violates the UN Charter’s guarantee of equal treatment to all nations, large and small,” Neuer added.
“We note that while France, Sweden and other EU states have supported nearly all of the 14 resolutions adopted against Israel during this General Assembly session, the same European nations have failed to introduce a single UNGA resolution on the human rights situations in China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, Algeria, or on 170 other countries,” said Neuer.
“Where’s the supposed EU concern for international law and human rights?”
“Today’s farce at the General Assembly underscores a simple fact: the UN’s automatic majority has no interest in truly helping Palestinians, nor in protecting anyone’s human rights; the goal of these ritual, one-sided condemnations is to scapegoat Israel,” said Neuer.