[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 89 (Wednesday, June 29, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7641-S7642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         SUBMITTED RESOLUTIONS

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  SENATE RESULTION 184--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF THE SENATE REGARDING 
  MANIFESTATIONS OF ANTI-SEMITISM BY UNITED NATIONS MEMBER STATES AND 
URGING ACTION AGAINST ANTI-SEMITISM BY UNITED NATIONS OFFICIALS, UNITED 
NATIONS MEMBER STATES, AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, AND FOR 
                             OTHER PURPOSES

  Mr. SANTORUM (for himself, Mr. Feingold, Mr. Smith, Ms. Collins, Mr. 
Coleman, and Mr. Voinovich) submitted the following resolution; which 
was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

                              S. Res. 184

       Whereas the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human 
     Rights 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 only 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
       Resolved, 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 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 
     include in the Department of State's annual Country Reports 
     on Human Rights Practices and annual Report on International 
     Religious Freedom information on activities at the United 
     Nations and its constituent bodies relating to anti-Semitism 
     by each of the countries included in these reports; and
       (C) the President should direct the Secretary of State to 
     use projects funded through the Middle East Partnership 
     Initiative and United States overseas broadcasts to educate 
     Arab and Muslim countries about anti-Semitism, religious 
     intolerance, and incitement to violence.
  Mr. SANTORUM. Mr. President, I rise today to submit a resolution to 
express the sense of the Senate regarding manifestations of anti-
Semitism by United Nations member states and to urge action against 
anti-Semitism by United Nations officials, United Nations member 
states, and the U.S. government. I am very pleased to be joined in this 
effort by Senators Feingold, Smith, Collins, Coleman, and Voinovich, 
who are original cosponsors of this legislation.
  The past several years have revealed an upsurge in anti-Semitic 
violence around the world. We have seen incidences of it in Europe, the 
Middle East, and, unfortunately, even at the United Nations. While the 
United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights 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,'' there are numerous examples of anti-Semitism and anti-
Israel actions at the U.N. and by member states.
  Allow me to list some examples of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel bias 
that have been included in the resolution. Clearly false accusations 
have been made against the Jewish people and the government of Israel 
at the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. These lies were not corrected 
for months or, in some cases, ever. Israel also continues to be denied 
the opportunity to hold a rotating seat on the Security Council, 
despite the fact that it has been a member of the organization for 56 
years. It is the only member of the U.N. to be denied this seat. It 
continues to be denied the opportunity to

[[Page S7642]]

serve as a member of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights. The goals of 
the 2001 U.N. World Conference Against Racism were undermined by anti-
Jewish rhetoric and anti-Israel agendas, which led to both the U.S. and 
Israel withdrawing their delegations from the conference.
  The resolution being submitted today delineates these examples of 
anti-Semitism, but it also welcomes the steps the U.N. has recently 
taken to address this problem and urges additional steps to be taken. 
In 2004, the U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan acknowledged at the 
first U.N.-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.'' In 2004, a committee of the U.N. also adopted a resolution 
that condemned anti-Semitism and recognized the rise in incidences of 
intolerance and violence. Upon the 60th anniversary of the liberation 
of the Auschwitz concentration camps in 2005, the U.N. held an 
unprecedented session to commemorate the occasion.
  However, the United Nations and its member states must go further in 
combating this menace. The resolution makes it clear that the United 
States Senate is committed to opposing anti-Semitism and calls on the 
U.N. to officially and publicly condemn anti-Semitic statements made at 
its meetings and to hold accountable member states that make such 
statements. The resolution urges educational awareness programs about 
the Holocaust to be implemented around the world to combat anti-
Semitism, racism, and religious and ethnic intolerance. The U.S. 
Ambassador to the U.N. should also continue working to reduce anti-
Semitic and anti-Israel language and resolutions.
  Likewise, the resolution asks for action from the State Department. 
The U.S. State Department should include information on anti-Semitic 
activities at the U.N. and by member states in its annual human rights 
and religious freedom reports. These reports have been very useful in 
providing important information on the status of human rights and 
religious freedom around the world, and data on anti-Semitic activities 
falls clearly within the purpose of these reports. Lastly, the State 
Department should use projects funded through the Middle East 
Partnership Initiative and U.S. overseas broadcasts to educate Arab and 
Muslim countries about anti-Semitism, religious intolerance, and 
incitement to violence.
  A similar resolution to this, introduced by Representatives Ileana 
Ros-Lehtinen and Tom Lantos, passed the House of Representatives 
earlier this month by a vote of 409 to 2. I am hopeful that the Senate 
will similarly pass this resolution. It is time for the Senate to speak 
once more against the scourge of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic language 
and activity. This resolution will send a message to the United Nations 
and its member countries that we will require it to fight anti-
Semitism. For this reason, I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting 
these efforts by cosponsoring this resolution.

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