Whereas
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, approved by the United Nations
General Assembly in 1948, recognizes that the inherent dignity and equal
and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of
freedom, justice, and peace in the world
;
Whereas
United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379 (1975) concluded that
Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination
and the
General Assembly, by a vote of 111 to 25, only revoked Resolution 3379 in 1991
in response to strong leadership by the United States and after Israel made its
participation in the Madrid Peace Conference conditional upon repeal of the
resolution;
Whereas
during the 1991 session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, the
Syrian Ambassador to the United Nations repeated the outrageous blood
libel
that Jews allegedly have killed non-Jewish children to make
unleavened bread for Passover and, despite repeated interventions by the
Governments of Israel and the United States, this outrageous lie was not
corrected in the record of the Commission for many months;
Whereas
in March 1997, the Palestinian observer at the United Nations Commission on
Human Rights made the contemptible charge that the Government of Israel had
injected 300 Palestinian children with HIV (the human immunodeficiency virus,
the pathogen that causes AIDS) despite the fact that an Egyptian newspaper had
printed a full retraction to its earlier report of the same charges, and the
President of the Commission failed to challenge this baseless and false
accusation despite the request of the Government of Israel that he do
so;
Whereas
Israel was denied membership in any regional grouping of the United Nations
until the year 2000, which prevented it from being a candidate for any elected
positions within the United Nations system until that time, and Israel
continues to be denied the opportunity to hold a rotating seat on the Security
Council and it is the longest-serving member of the United Nations never to
have served on the Security Council although it has been a member of the
organization for 56 years;
Whereas
Israel continues to be denied the opportunity to serve as a member of the
United Nations Commission on Human Rights because it has never been included in
a slate of candidates submitted by a regional grouping, and Israel is currently
the only member of the Western and Others Group in a conditional status
limiting its ability to caucus with its fellow members of this regional
grouping;
Whereas
the United Nations has permitted itself to be used as a battleground for
political warfare against Israel led by Arab states and others, and 6 of the 10
emergency sessions of the United Nations General Assembly have been devoted to
criticisms of and attacks against Israel;
Whereas
the goals of the 2001 United Nations World Conference Against Racism were
undermined by hateful anti-Jewish rhetoric and anti-Israel political agendas,
prompting both Israel and the United States to withdraw their delegations from
the Conference;
Whereas
in 2004, the United Nations Secretary General acknowledged at the first United
Nations-sponsored conference on anti-Semitism, that: It is clear that we
are witnessing an alarming resurgence of this phenomenon in new forms and
manifestations. This time, the world must not—cannot—be silent.
;
Whereas
in 2004, the United Nations General Assembly’s Third Committee for the first
time adopted a resolution on religious tolerance that includes condemnation of
anti-Semitism and recognized with deep concern the overall rise in
instances of intolerance and violence directed against members of many
religious communities . . . including . . . anti-Semitism . . .
;
Whereas
in 2005, the United Nations held an unprecedented session to commemorate the
60th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp;
Whereas
democratic Israel is annually the object of nearly two dozen redundantly
critical resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly, which rarely
adopts resolutions relating to specific countries; and
Whereas
the viciousness with which Israel is attacked and discriminated against at the
United Nations should not be allowed to continue unchallenged: Now, therefore,
be it
That—
(1)the Senate—
(A)welcomes recent attempts by the United
Nations Secretary General to address the issue of anti-Semitism;
(B)calls on the leadership of the United
Nations to officially and publicly condemn anti-Semitic statements made at all
United Nations meetings and hold accountable United Nations member states that
make such statements; and
(C)strongly urges the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to develop and
implement education awareness programs about the Holocaust throughout the world
as part of an effort to combat the rise in anti-Semitism and racial, religious,
and ethnic intolerance; and
(2)it is the sense of the Senate that—
(A)the President should direct the United
States Permanent Representative to the United Nations to continue working
toward further reduction of anti-Semitic language and anti-Israel
resolutions;
(B)the President should direct the Secretary
of State to report on acts of anti-Semitism at the United Nations and United
Nations agencies by member states; and
(C)projects funded through the Middle East
Partnership Initiative and United States overseas broadcasts should include
efforts to educate Arab and Muslim countries about anti-Semitism, religious
intolerance, and incitement to violence.