For the first time in the United Nation’s General Assembly, Britain voted against a resolution calling on Israel to give the Golan Heights to Syria, underlining that the resolution, proposed by the Syrian regime, threatened to undermine the credibility of the UN.
The UK delegate at the General Assembly said that the resolution does “little to advance peace or mutual understanding” adding that “it is unnecessary and disproportionate”.
Criticising the Syrian regime’s resolution, he said: “The Syrian regime’s intent is to use this additional resolution to deflect attention from its own criminal actions and indiscriminate slaughter of its own citizens. The duty of the General Assembly is to draw attention to international humanitarian law violations, wherever they occur. This resolution risks discrediting that vital responsibility”.
The resolution was part of six anti-Israel resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, to mark International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Earlier this year in March, the UK Government delivered an unprecedented condemnation of the UN Human Rights Council’s (UNHRC) stance towards Israel, announcing on Friday that it is putting the UN body “on notice” and will vote against every motion on the conflict unless it ends its “disproportion and bias” against the Jewish State.
The UK’s mission to the UN voted against a UNHRC resolution “on the occupation of Syria’s Golan”. The mission’s statement emphasised: “Nowhere is the disproportionate focus on Israel starker and more absurd than in the case of today’s resolution on the occupation of Syria’s Golan. Syria’s regime butchers and murders its people on a daily basis. But it is not Syria that is a permanent standing item on the Council’s agenda; it is Israel. We cannot accept the perverse message sent out by a Syria Golan resolution that singles out Israel, as Assad continues to slaughter the Syrian people”.
The statement criticised the body’s “selective focus” on Israel: “Israel is a population of eight million in a world of seven billion. Yet since its foundation, the Human Rights Council has adopted 135 country-specific resolutions; 68 of which against Israel. Justice is blind and impartial. This selective focus on Israel is neither”.
It concluded by stating: “So today we are putting the Human Rights Council on notice. If things do not change, in the future we will adopt a policy of voting against all resolutions concerning Israel’s conduct in the Occupied Syrian and Palestinian Territories”.
