[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 939 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
H. RES. 939

   Condemning the glorification of terrorism and the continuing anti-
        Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric at the United Nations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 23, 2008

 Ms. Ros-Lehtinen (for herself, Mr. Burton of Indiana, Mr. Cantor, Mr. 
  Ramstad, Mr. Wilson of South Carolina, Mr. Pence, Mr. Marshall, Mr. 
Fortuno, Mr. Shimkus, Mr. Gallegly, Ms. Berkley, Mr. Bachus, Mr. Cohen, 
    Mr. Royce, Mr. Chabot, and Mr. Lamborn) submitted the following 
   resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Condemning the glorification of terrorism and the continuing anti-
        Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric at the United Nations.

Whereas Israel continues to be the Member State most frequently condemned within 
        the United Nations;
Whereas on December 19, 2007, Palestinian Authority representative to the United 
        Nations, Riyad Mansour, submitted a list of ``martyrs'' to be mourned, 
        including Hosam Abu Habl and Jihad Mustafa Dhaher, two senior members of 
        the terrorist organization Islamic Jihad;
Whereas past letters submitted by the Palestinian Authority have listed as 
        ``martyrs'', among other terrorists, Ayman Daloul and Hussain Ahel, two 
        of the men responsible for the kidnaping of Israeli soldier Gilad 
        Shalit;
Whereas Mr. Mansour has repeatedly decried Israeli defensive actions while 
        making no mention of the ongoing rocket attacks against the cities of 
        Sderot and Ashkelon;
Whereas on November 29, 2007, the 60th anniversary of the United Nation's 
        resolution to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab states, the 
        United Nations marked only a ``Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian 
        People'', flying a Palestinian flag but not an Israeli one;
Whereas on November 29, 2007, Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas delivered a 
        statement through Yasser Abed Rabbo on letterhead that bore a logo of 
        Palestine without the Jewish State of Israel;
Whereas on November 29, 2007, Mr. Paul Badji, Chairman of the Committee on the 
        Exercise of the Inalienable rights of the Palestinian People, lauded the 
        efforts of terrorism by proudly stating, ``It was 20 years ago that the 
        Palestinians as a people stood up to the occupation, and the world 
        learned a new word--intifada.'';
Whereas on October 29, 2007, Palestinian militants fired mortars into Israel 
        from the yard of a elementary school run by the United Nations Relief 
        and Works Agency (UNRWA) without any official reprisal from the United 
        Nations;
Whereas on November 29, 2006, the United Nations Trusteeship Council hosted 
        panels that advocated the right of return of 7,000,000 to 8,000,000 
        refugees, without reference to Jewish refugees from Arab lands;
Whereas on November 29, 2006, at the United Nations public headquarters, Farouk 
        Kaddoumi, head of the Political Department of the Palestine Liberation 
        Organization, encouraged Palestinian ``resistance'' against Israel and 
        stated that the ``land is ours and we shall not cede it'';
Whereas on November 29, 2005, a ``map of Palestine'' was displayed in the 
        presence of the three highest-ranking United Nations officials, 
        including United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, that was dated 
        1948 and did not include the Jewish State of Israel;
Whereas on November 29, 2005, the President of the United Nations Security 
        Council, the President of the United Nations General Assembly, and the 
        Secretary-General of the United Nations commemorated the terrorism of 
        suicide bombers by rising to ``observe a minute of silence of all those 
        who have given their lives for the cause of the Palestinian people'';
Whereas allowing such hate speech and intolerance runs contrary to United 
        Nations Secretary-General Annan's declaration at the June 2004 United 
        Nations Department of Public Information Seminar on Anti-Semitism that 
        ``[The] fight against anti-Semitism must be our fight. And Jews 
        everywhere must feel that the United Nations is their home too.'';
Whereas at the 2001 World Conference against Racism (WCAR) in Durban, South 
        Africa, organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and 
        Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the anti-Israel and anti-American 
        rhetoric was so offensive that United States Secretary of State Colin 
        Powell withdrew the United States delegation, stating, ``I know that you 
        do not combat racism by conferences that produce declarations containing 
        hateful language . . . or that singles out only one country in the 
        world, Israel, for censure and abuse.'';
Whereas after the Durban Conference, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary 
        Robinson stated that there was ``horrible anti-Semitism present'';
Whereas, over the objections of the United States, the European Union, and other 
        key Member States, the United Nations General Assembly has initiated 
        preparations for a Durban Review Conference in 2009 that is proposed to 
        be funded from the United Nations' regular budget, which would force the 
        United States to pay for nearly a quarter of the total conference cost, 
        preliminarily estimated to be $7,200,000; 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
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) condemns the glorification of terrorism and the 
        continuing anti-Israel and anti-Semitic rhetoric at the United 
        Nations;
            (2) calls on the Secretary General of the United Nations 
        to--
                    (A) officially and publicly condemn anti-Semitic 
                statements in all United Nations meetings;
                    (B) establish and enforce policies to hold 
                accountable any United Nations official or employee who 
                makes such statements; and
                    (C) further develop and implement education 
                awareness programs about the Holocaust throughout the 
                world, as part of an effort to combat the global rise 
                in anti-Semitism;
            (3) calls on the Secretary of State to secure adoption of a 
        United Nations General Assembly Resolution implementing 
        procedures at the United Nations to hold accountable member 
        states that make anti-Semitic or incendiary statements, 
        including by suspending the membership privileges of such 
        member states;
            (4) calls on the President to direct the United States 
        Permanent Representative to the United Nations to use the 
        voice, vote, and influence of the United States to prevent the 
        use of the United Nations regular budget to support the planned 
        2009 Durban Review Conference and to withhold a proportional 
        amount of United States contributions to the United Nations 
        should the Durban Review Conference proceed as planned; and
            (5) urges the adoption and pursuit of the policies 
        described in paragraphs (1) through (4) and other policies to 
        promote reform in the United Nations that will--
                    (A) bring greater accountability, transparency, and 
                regulation to the United Nations; and
                    (B) censure member states that glorify terrorism or 
                engage in intolerance.
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