A sign of the times? Support for anti-Israel resolutions drops at UN

Support for the annual batch of anti-Israel resolutions in the United Nations went down this year, a drop attributed to an “intense diplomatic effort” by Israel in the United Nations and the aftermath of the Abraham Accords. 

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan welcomed this drop in support for the annual “Palestinian package” of pro-Palestinian resolutions that come up every December.

In other words, while the UN General Assembly did, in the end, adopt five anti-Israel resolutions by a majority, it was with less support than usual.

No other country has as many resolutions leveled against it as Israel does each year, even countries accused of human rights abuses.

“No other country in the world faces such discrimination in the UN and it is time for more UN members to join us in changing this organization’s anti-Israel agenda,” Erdan said.

“The countries that supported Israel today have understood that this package of resolutions does nothing to forward peace but serves only to entrench the Palestinian’s rejectionist position and deepen the conflict.”

One of the texts condemned Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and is against any annexation plans, a second text condemns Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights, and the remaining three are related to the work of UN committees on the Palestinian issue and Palestinian refugees, according to Erdan's office.

“These resolutions symbolize the UN's detachment from reality, and I thank the countries that sent a clear message against the UN’s anti-Israel bias.”

Erdan noted that year’s resolutions failed to refer to the Abraham Accords peace agreements signed between Israel and three Arab states: the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan. And yet, those normalization agreements with Israel have “shattered that paradigm” of Arab countries catering to Palestinian demands while not recognizing Israel’s existence.

“For years, the Palestinians have held the interests of the Arab world hostage while the international community has cynically voted in favor of its resolutions. Arab countries were forbidden from recognizing Israel’s existence and banned from having relations with us unless we surrendered to the Palestinians outrageous demands.”

Erdan thanked the countries that changed their voting pattern this year.

Some of the countries that changed their votes were Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Switzerland who opposed the resolutions rather than merely abstaining. Slovenia, Switzerland and Papua New Guinea moved from abstaining to voting against the resolution on the Division for Palestinian Rights of the Secretariat, while Singapore, Eritrea and Uruguay moved from voting in favor to abstention.

In another resolution dealing with the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, which produces reports and activities reflecting only the Palestinian narrative, Austria, Bulgaria, Germany and Papua New Guinea voted against, and Uruguay and Iceland moved from voting in favor to abstaining which marked changes for all those countries.