The U.N. General Assembly adopted 10 resolutions singling out Israel today, with only 4 expected to be adopted later this week for the entire rest of the world combined, with one each on Syria, Iran, North Korea and Crimea. See UN Watch’s full list and voting records below.But UN officials themselves are usually careful not to sound too one-sided. They will happily allow special days, months or years, and countless committees and special sessions, dedicated to bashing Israel - but they will almost always insist that they want peace and that Israel has the right to exist in safety. They do not want to lose that little shred of a pretense of objectivity, because to say outright that Israel should be destroyed or that they are against peace would be an explicit violation of the UN Charter. They are professional diplomats and they are usually careful with their words.
The resolutions were adopted in their first reading today before the UNGA’s Second and Fourth Committees. All 193 UN member states participate in the committee stage, and then almost always vote the same way when formally adopting the texts at the GA plenary in December.
For example, Ban Ki-Moon has said "Israel is one of the 193 Member States, thus Israel should have equal rights and opportunities without having any bias, any discrimination. That’s a fundamental principle of the United Nations Charter and thus Israel should be fully given such rights.”
Some UN agencies are not quite so circumspect, though.
Meet Rima Khalaf. executive secretary of UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA).
A growing number of individuals and institutions from four corners of globe are joining solidarity movement with Palestinian people, said Executive Secretary of UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) Rima Khalaf.Rima Khalaf is praising boycotting Israel, which is bad enough, since the boycott movement's goals are not to end the "occupation" but to end Israel.
Speaking at an event held in Beirut to mark the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian People, Khalaf said that the organized campaigns to boycott Israeli occupation authorities are gaining momentum and new grounds every day all over the world.
In the Arab region, there are much fiercer popular campaigns against those who naturalize relations with Israeli authorities, she said.
Beyond that, though, this major UN official is praising Arab nations that punish those who have any sort of relationships with Israelis. Khalaf is essentially saying that Israel does not belong in the family of nations and anyone who treats them equally - as Ban Ki Moon insists - should be ostracized.
Arabic reports add that she also accused Israel of being an "apartheid" state in setting itself up to be ethnically pure, she claimed that 850,000 Palestinians have been arrested by Israel, and any Palestinians who are killed - including terrorists - are murdered by Israel simply "because they are Palestinians who refuse to give up their rights and refuse to surrender to injustice."
"The years have proven that the Palestinian people did not get used to injustice, but chose resistance," Khalaf stated, using a code-word for terror attacks.
Khalaf is justifying terror and making up facts. By any yardstick, Khalaf is directly calling for nations to violate the UN Charter. This goes beyond even what Israel complained about her saying in 2015.
And, just like last year, Khalaf will not suffer any consequences for her public display of hate that violates the charter of her employer.