[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 116 (Thursday, September 15, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10150-S10151]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  REGARDING MANIFESTATIONS OF ANTI-SEMITISM BY UNITED NATIONS MEMBER 
                                 STATES

  Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the 
consideration of S. Res. 240, which was submitted earlier today.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The assistant bill clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 240) 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.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, 
the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon 
the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 240) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                              S. Res. 240

       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

[[Page S10151]]

     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 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.

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