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In a transatlantic initiative this week, 313 cross-party lawmakers from Europe, North America, and Israel urged EU countries and democracies worldwide to help end the discrimination against Israel at the United Nations.
Among the signatories included 20 Conservative MPs and Peers. Spearheaded by AJC’s Transatlantic Friends of Israel (TFI), the interparliamentary statement came ahead of Tuesday’s opening of the 76th Session of the UN General Assembly.
The leadership of the TFI sent the statement to the governments of all EU member states, the UK, Norway and Switzerland, to the EU leadership as well as the UN Secretary General and the heads of major UN agencies.
The signatories underline in the declaration that anti-Israel bias at the UN not only damages Israel but the UN’s own reputation and its effectiveness to tackle global problems: “Within the context of rising global antisemitism, the relentless, disproportionate, and ritualistic condemnation of the world’s only Jewish state at the UN is particularly dangerous and must finally end. Israel deserves attention and scrutiny, as does every other nation. But it also merits equal treatment – nothing more, nothing less”.
The declarations calls on EU members to “reject the excessive number of anti-Israel resolutions”; reform the Human Rights Council to eliminate its permanent anti-Israel agenda Item 7; and abolish discriminatory committees and programs within the UN system that single out Israel. In 2020, the UN General Assembly adopted 17 resolutions against Israel and only six resolutions against six of the other 192 member states for human rights violations.
