Is the United Nations Biased against Israel and for Palestine?

“Despite being the only democracy in the Middle East, Israel routinely faces more criticism and condemnation at the United Nations than any other country, including those that systematically kill their citizens or deny them the most basic of human rights. Even today, both the General Assembly and Security Council continue to pass one-sided resolutions that single out and condemn the Jewish State. Additionally, an overwhelmingly powerful bloc led by the Arab nations promotes a narrow and slanderous agenda meant to isolate Israel that has met little resistance.”

“We on the left don’t often like to bring it up, but it’s the truth: Israel is often singled out for behavior that goes along unmentioned in other countries, often in much greater measure. Resolutions condemning Israel carry a nearly ritualistic quality at this point, yet blatant human rights abuses in other countries in the region (Saudi Arabia comes to mind) and around the world (China, anyone?) often appear to barely register on the official U.N. radar. The ongoing brutality in Syria provides an unfortunately apt example: While many member states have clearly wanted to take a stronger stand all along, for others the mere notion of harsh language was a bridge too far.

And that is wrong. That is wrong, and unfair, and frankly unhelpful to anyone wanting to build genuine, lasting peace anywhere in the world, not least Israel/Palestine.”

“Instead of focusing on actual human rights violators around the world, as this international body was created to do, the UNHRC [United Nations Human Rights Council] keeps its main focus on Israel—a nation that has gone to extraordinary lengths to protect and preserve the lives of civilians, both during this latest conflict and throughout previous defensive responses to Hamas’ terror…

Since its inception in 2006, the UNHRC has released a total of 103 resolutions. Astonishingly, 56 have focused on criticizing Israel. The UNHRC has held a total of 21 special sessions to address dire humanitarian crises throughout the world. One has addressed Sudan, another Sri Lanka, another Ivory Coast and another Libya—while 7 of the 21 special sessions have irrationally targeted Israel.”

“On December 18, 2012, the 67th United Nations General Assembly strongly criticized Israel and adopted nine resolutions on Palestinian rights and the Golan. By the end of the week, 22 resolutions were adopted by the Assembly against Israel, with only four resolutions passed on the rest of the world.

Syria—a country plagued by a civil war against a ruthless dictatorship that has reportedly claimed the lives of over 50,000 people, half of which are civilians—received one of the four resolutions. Iran, governed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a man who denies the Holocaust, represses gay rights and constantly calls for the annihilation of Jews and the Jewish state, received one resolution. Iran is the largest state-sponsor of global terrorism.

The other two resolutions were given to North Korea and Burma, both dictatorships with consistent systematic human rights violations. Yet Israel, the only country in the Middle East that has true democracy, free speech, religious tolerance, gay rights and equal protection for all citizens of the State, was handed 22 resolutions.

Israel has surely made mistakes, as all governments and nations have. However, the crimes that Israel has committed are consistently magnified to unfair levels, while those of other nations receive no attention. The continuous agenda of international organizations like the UN to pardon nations like Iran and terrorist organizations like Hamas for heinous human rights violations, but villainize Israel for building settlements or defending its citizens from rocket fire has created an unfair double standard.”

“In the General Assembly and its committees, as well as in the specialized agencies of the UN, there exists a long-standing tradition of singling out Israel. The General Assembly devotes seven out of 179 items of its agenda to issues concerning Israel. No other nation or issue is accorded such scrutinizing treatment. Nineteen anti-Israel resolutions are adopted by the General Assembly annually.”

“Among the nearly 200 nations represented at the U.N., only Israel has ever been assigned special — reduced — membership privileges, its ambassadors formally barred, for 53 straight years ending only recently, from election to the Security Council. Meanwhile, and right up to the present day, that same Security Council has devoted fully a third of its energy and criticism to the policies of a single country: Israel. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which regularly — and unreprovingly — accepts delegations from any number of homicidal tyrannies across the globe, has issued fully a quarter of its official condemnations to a single (democratic) country: Israel.”