GENEVA--UN Watch applauded Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government for voting yesterday at the UN General Assembly to join the U.S. in opposing 6 resolutions singling out Israel, and for being on track to continue without change Canada's policy of firmly opposing repetitive, disproportionate and one-sided resolutions -- all drafted by the Palestinians except for two by Syria -- that are designed to delegitimize Israel, the Middle East's only democracy. So far, with final plenary or initial committee votes on 19 of the 20 annual anti-Israel resolutions, Canada's voting record is entirely unchanged from last year. This upholds the UN Charter's principle of equal treatment of all nations, and prejudice to none.
Click here for Chart of Canada voting in 2014 & 2015
Syria's ambassador Jaafari yesterday expressed "heartfelt appreciaton and gratitude" to the UN for its Golan resolution, and accused Israel of "occupation killing policies" of "expansion," "racism," and "aggression."Of the 16 No votes on anti-Israel texts so far this year, one took place on November 2nd, still under the Harper government. The rest were decided by the new Trudeau government.
Despite the opposition of Canada, the U.S., and Australia, the UN General Assembly yesterday adopted six non-binding resolutions singling out and criticizing Israel, without any of mention of the spate of Palestinian knife attacks, shooting, car-rammings, and incitement, nor were any resolutions adopted on Russia, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, or any other human rights situation.
"Surreal barely captures the scene: the world is under assault by terrorists killing in the name of Islam and martyrdom--as Palestinians did this week while stabbing Israeli Jews--and the UN's response is to reflexively condemn Israel in six separate resolutions, all of which are one-sided," said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
One resolution condemned the Jewish state for retaining the Golan Heights, demanding Israel hand the land and its people to Syria.
"It's astonishing," said Neuer. "At a time when the Syrian regime is massacring its own people, how can the U.N. call for more people to be subject to Assad's rule? The timing is morally galling and logically absurd."
"What is also outrageous is that these resolutions claim to care about Palestinians, yet the U.N. proves itself oblivious to the hundreds of Palestinians who continue to be slaughtered, maimed and expelled by Assad's forces."
"The farce at the General Assembly underscores a simple fact: the U.N.'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 remains the scapegoating of Israel," said Neuer.
"The U.N.'s disproportionate assault against the Jewish state undermines the institutional credibility of what is supposed to be an impartial international body, and exposes the sores of politicization and selectivity that eat away at its founding mission, eroding the U.N. Charter promise of equal treatment to all nations large and small,” Neuer added.
UN Watch is a Geneva-based human rights organization founded in 1993 to monitor UN compliance with the principles of its Charter. It is accredited as a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and as an Associate NGO to the UN Department of Public Information (DPI).
