AJC Condemns UN Human Rights Resolution

American Jewish Committee
Thursday, 19 October 2000

The American Jewish Committee tonight strongly condemned the resolution narrowly adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights, which put the entire blame on Israel for the tragic violence of the past two weeks.

"The UN Commission on Human Rights has failed to fulfill its sacred duty of looking fully and objectively at the Middle East situation," said American Jewish Committee Executive Director David A. Harris, who spoke before the Commission on Tuesday. "Rather, it was an opportunity for such human rights 'stalwarts' as Cuba, Pakistan and Sudan, to give vent to their anti-Israel antagonism. It is laughable to have the Commission lectured on Israel's human rights record by quintessential human rights abusers such as Algeria, Iraq, Iran and Syria."

The resolution, condemning Israel for "war crimes" during the recent outbreak of violence, was adopted by a vote of 19 to 16, with 17 abstentions.

"I am astounded that so many states completely ignored UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's laudable role as an even-handed mediator who helped achieve the Sharm el-Sheikh accord," said Mr. Harris, who also is Chairman of UN Watch, AJC's affiliate in Geneva.

"They also blithely ignored the balanced assessment of the complex situation presented by High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson at the opening of the session. Instead, the Arab and Islamic groups, joined by some in the non-aligned world, cast truth to the wind and gave vent to visceral antagonism to Israel," said Mr. Harris.

"During three days of one-sided debate too few were prepared to recognize the fundamental human rights violations committed by the Palestinian Authority, including placing their own children on the front lines and carrying out brutal attacks on Israelis and on holy Jewish religious sites," said Mr. Harris. "Moreover the Arab and Islamic world did not hesitate to fully distort Israel's behavior, as shown in this resolution that is totally at odds with the truth."

AJC condemned the resolution as "an offense to truth, to the search for peace and to the protection of human rights," and applauded the decision of many members of the Commission - the European countries, the United States, Canada, Japan, and Guatemala – to vote against the resolution.

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