Annual Israel-Bashing Day at U.N.

The annual session of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People at the United Nations this week featured no less than six resolutions condemning Israel.

Among the resolutions was a repeat of the recent UNESCO pronouncement condemning Israel for “illegal” actions on Har Habayis, which similarly treated the site as if it were exclusively of Muslim tradition, referring only to the Arabic name and ignoring the Jewish people’s connection to it.

Of the 193 member states, 147 voted in favor of it, seven voted against and eight abstained.

All the European countries present voted for the resolution – including France, Italy, Germany and the United Kingdom. In opposition were the United States, Canada, Israel, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Naura and Palu.

Australia, Guatemala, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay and Vanuatu abstained.

The United States voted against all the resolutions. The U.S. representative at the General Assembly session objected to the “disproportionate number of resolutions condemning Israel, adding that such statements “damage the prospect for peace.”

Israel’s Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said, “Today’s resolutions are yet another example of the daily bias Israel faces in the U.N.

“At the same time that Israel is celebrating the historic decision to reestablish the Jewish state in our homeland [the 1947 partition vote], the U.N. continues to fund organizations and pass resolutions that do nothing to better the lives of the Palestinians.”

Danon singled out General Assembly President Peter Thomson for censure, after he wore a scarf with the colors of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) flag to the session Tuesday.

“It’s unacceptable for the president of the U.N. General Assembly, whose position is a symbol of neutrality and stateliness, to wrap himself in a Palestinian flag and participate in an event whose sole purpose is to attack and besmirch the state of Israel,” Danon said, according to JNS.org.

Danon further challenged the sincerity of the Palestinians’ interest in a peaceful settlement and a state of their own.

“Do the Palestinians even want a state? History tells us that the answer is no. If the Palestinians really wanted peace, we could have had peace decades ago. The Palestinians reject every Israeli offer and every plan and respond with waves of violence and terror,” he said.

During his speech, Danon held up a copy of the front page of The New York Times on November 30, 1947, the day after the Partition vote. The headlines read: “Assembly Votes Palestine Partition,” “Arabs Walk Out… Disavow Any Partition Role.” Israel accepted the plan.

“It is time to put an end to this lie, once and for all,” Danon told the Assembly. “If you really want to show solidarity with the Palestinian people then end this charade, and demand that that the Palestinian leaders finally return to the negotiating table.”