Last week the United Nations (U.N.) held a special emergency session that “demanded” that all countries comply with UN Security Council resolutions regarding the status of Jerusalem, following the United States recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel. In response to this U.N. action, the U.S. government has cut millions of dollars in aid to the U.N. and still has not complied with their demands.
The Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. applauds the U.S. response because, as we see it, this U.N. resolution was not only about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was about something bigger – America’s intolerance of bigotry.
As Americans, there are certain truths that we hold self-evident, and one of those truths is that citizens of the world have the right to liberty no matter their race, religion or creed. However, modern anti-Semitism, under the guise of anti-Zionism, has been allowed to flourish virtually unchallenged in the U.N. Let us be clear, there is a fine line between criticism of the state of Israel and anti-Semitism. However, when U.N. members are allowed to speak on the U.N. floor about Jews “sucking the blood” of their Muslim neighbors, that line has been crossed.
It’s time to recognize that the U.N. has a serious anti-Semitism problem. The U.N. has disproportionately targeted Israel, the only country with a Jewish majority, in its resolutions and Human Rights Council. By voting “no”, the United States stood up for its values and did not back down in the face of U.N. bullying.
As George Washington wrote to the Rhode Island Jewish Congregation, Mikveh Israel, “For happily the Government of the United States gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”
