Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Ron Prosor, responded sharply to comments made recently by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in which he denied that there was an endemic anti-Israel bias problem at the UN.
“Blatant denial is no recipe for change,” said the Ambassador in an email to The Algemeiner, adding, “This bias will continue as long as it is not acknowledged and dealt with at the highest echelons of the UN.”
“It doesn’t take the investigative skills of Agatha Christie to deduce that there’s bias against Israel at the United Nations,” he said.
Speaking to journalists at the UN Monday Ki-moon was asked by an Israel Radioreporter about comments he made while visiting Israel Friday that acknowledged that bias against Israel was prevalent at the UN. In what appeared to be a sharp turnaround the Secretary General responded “No, I don’t think there is discrimination against Israel at the United Nations.”
Backing up his statement Prosor provided examples of UN bias against the Jewish state in his email to The Algemeiner.
“Every year, the General Assembly passes over 20 resolutions that single out Israel. These resolutions are passed in a ‘standard operating procedure,’ discriminating against Israel with absolutely zero connection to changing realities in the world or the Middle East. In 2012 alone, the GA passed 21 resolutions condemning us – and only three condemning ‘beacons of human rights’ like Syria, Iran, and North Korea,” he wrote.
Prosor also referred to the UN Human Rights Council’s Agenda Item 7 which singles out Israel, citing it as an instance of anti-Israel discrimination.
“In the UN Human Rights Council, there is an Agenda Item 4 that deals with human rights violations all over the world – including in ‘Jeffersonian democracies’ like Libya, Syria and Sudan. Israel, however, is the only country in the world that is singled out for a special Agenda Item 7. If this is not discrimination, what is?” he said.
The Ambassador also pointed out the UN’s historic attitude towards Israel, saying, “Although Israel has been a UN member state since 1949, for 51 years Israel was denied access to any UN regional group. Only in May 2000 was Israel allowed to join the regional group WEOG. If that’s not discrimination, what is?”
On Tuesday a senior Israeli official told The Times of Israel that Israel was “disappointed” by Ki-moon’s comments.
“We were disappointed when we saw these reported remarks. It’s clear that Israel has been systematically discriminated against at the United Nations and the way to start dealing with that issue is first of all to recognize that there’s a problem,” the official said.
NormanF Said:
I was wondering about the same thing.
What is the downside of not being a member of the UN?
Netanyahu’s lawyer Prosor’s idea of change is to throw notes in the UN wastebasket. If he wanted to bring about real change – he’d withdraw from the UN.
Why does Israel need to be the battered woman of the nations? What’s the benefit of remaining seated in the Jew-hating UN? Israel would be a lot better off without it!