In the current 75th session of the UN General Assembly (2020-2021), all EU member states will likely vote for one resolution each to criticize Iran,  Syria, North Korea, Myanmar, the U.S., for its embargo on Cuba, and two resolutions on Crimea. See second table at bottom, showing these eight anticipated resolution texts and votes.

By contrast, EU states will likely vote for 13 out of 17 resolutions singling out Israel. Yet these same EU states failed to introduce a single UNGA resolution on the human rights situation in China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, Algeria, or on 175 other countries.

Below are the resolutions on Israel that have been adopted, or that are expected to be adopted, in the 75th Session (2020-2021) of the UN General Assembly.

UN Watch opposes the adoption of one-sided resolutions at the United Nations and we have launched a campaign urging countries to oppose them. Click here to take action and demand that your country end its biased votes that demonize Israel.

RESOLUTIONS SINGLING OUT ISRAEL

UN Watch opposes the adoption of one-sided resolutions at the United Nations and we have launched a campaign urging countries to oppose them. Click here to take action and demand that your country change its biased votes on Israel.

Expected 2020 UNGA resolutions:
🇰🇵 North Korea 1
🇻🇪 Venezuela 0
🇲🇲 Myanmar 1
🇵🇰 Pakistan 0
🇧🇪 Belgium 0
🏴‍☠️ Hamas 0
🇹🇷 Turkey 0
🇫🇷 France 0
🇾🇪 Yemen 0
🇪🇷 Eritrea 0
🇷🇺 Russia 2
🇨🇳 China 0
🇸🇦 Saudi 0
🇮🇱 Israel 17
🇨🇺 Cuba 0
🇸🇾 Syria 1
🇮🇶 Iraq 0
🇮🇷 Iran 1
🇺🇸 US 1

Seems legit.

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 17, 2020

The post 2020-2021 UN General Assembly Resolutions Singling Out Israel – Texts, Votes, Analysis appeared first on UN Watch.

UN Watch’s executive director Hillel Neuer has been listed among the world’s top 40 global advocates for Israel online by the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), together with Gal Gadot and other personalities.

“Each of these inspiring leaders has two things in common: He or she is making a real difference, and is a fearless and tireless advocate for the Jewish state,” said JNS.

“Hillel Neuer of UN Watch is a man who makes tyrants and dictators nervous every time he comes up to the microphone at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, holding the world body to account and fearlessly standing up for the State of Israel, while also championing the oppressed,” reads the citation.

Friends and former honorees of UN Watch who also made the list, several of them cited for their speeches at the UNHRC on behalf of UN Watch, include Col. Richard Kemp, MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Dr. Einat Wilf, Bari Weiss and Miss Iraq Sarah Idan.

Neuer recently surpassed 100,000 followers on Twitter, making him one of the world’s most influential pro-Israel voices on the primary social media platform used by political leaders, journalists and activists.

UN Watch’s own account also continues its impressive growth on Twitter. In just the past two months alone, UN Watch’s followers increased by 33 percent, reaching over 90,000.

Tweets during this period received thousands of shares and views, catching the attention of thought and opinion leaders from around the world. See several examples below.

Follow @UNWatch and @HillelNeuer on Twitter.

Maduro on U.S. elections: “In Venezuela, the results are known on the same night.”

Actually, even the night before. https://t.co/x0HAuKdmUN

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 5, 2020

No joke: the U.N. just adopted a resolution referring to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount solely by its Muslim name of Haram al-Sharif, one of seven resolutions passed today that single out or condemn Israel, with zero on the entire rest of the world.https://t.co/ubiVccF0sc

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 5, 2020

🇹🇷 Turkey is inciting against its Armenian citizens, and hundreds are being forced to leave.

🇹🇷 Turkey’s representative is President of the 2020-2021 U.N. General Assembly.

Why, @antonioguterres? https://t.co/iks1xCb1BQ

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) November 3, 2020

Why is it that the countries now going crazy over cartoons in France are the very same who are not only silent at China herding 1 million Muslims into camps, but actually signed a letter at the U.N. praising Beijing’s actions? https://t.co/gKeAKIgFIL pic.twitter.com/9bXwpDvITO

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 26, 2020

Welcomes Sudan-Israel Peace:
🇺🇸 US
🇬🇧 UK
🇦🇪 UAE
🇪🇬 Egypt
🇬🇷 Greece
🇧🇭 Bahrain
🇨🇦 Canada
🇸🇮 Slovenia
🇵🇹 Portugal
🇩🇪 Germany

Condemns:
🇮🇷 Islamic Republic of Iran
🇵🇸 Palestinian Authority
🇮🇷 Islamic Jihad
🏴‍☠️ Hamas

“Takes note“:
🇺🇳 U.N. https://t.co/1j0Z6VsuWK

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 24, 2020

Congratulation to President Xi Jinping on 🇨🇳 China's election to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Credentials: Herded 1 million Uighurs into camps; jails human rights activists; crushed Tibet; disappeared those who sounded the alarm on coronavirus; suffocated freedom in Hong Kong. pic.twitter.com/i88Jahg56Z

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 16, 2020

🇳🇬 Nigeria kills 10 and injures hundreds in peaceful protests against police brutality.

🇳🇬 Nigeria sits on the U.N. Human Rights Council. https://t.co/anPBP13MTd

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) October 16, 2020

Today is a black day for human rights—U.N.'s newest world judges on human rights include:
🇵🇰 Pakistan – persecutes Christians, Hindu, Ahmadis
🇨🇳 China – herded 1 million Uighurs into camps
🇷🇺 Russia – poisons dissidents
🇨🇺 Cuba – police state

The inmates are running the asylum. pic.twitter.com/O9ePHirNES

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 13, 2020

Retweet if you
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
really
oppose these 4 dictatorships winning U.N. Human Rights Council seats this Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/eVrrIFsRHX

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 11, 2020

🇨🇳 China just interrupted me at the United Nations & tried to stop me from speaking after I asked why a regime that herded 1 million Muslim Uighurs into camps is sitting on the 5-nation UNHRC panel that nominates the next UN experts on arbitrary detention & forced disappearances. pic.twitter.com/5XUqq7Zye1

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) September 24, 2020

The post UN Watch’s Hillel Neuer Named to List of Top 40 Global Advocates for Israel Online appeared first on UN Watch.

Thank you, Moderator.

Director General, Member States, Excellencies:

What are we really talking about here?

A decision that politicizes the WHO and allows it to be misused. A decision that shifts the focus of the agenda of the World Health Assembly from global health challenges to a political attack. A decision that does not reflect the reality on the ground.

Let me be clear: It is not a decision that has an interest to improve the lives of the Palestinian people. It is not a decision that will affect the assistance program to the Palestinian people, nor does it depend on it. The reality is that Israel supports the work of the WHO to assist and promote the Palestinian health system for the benefit of the Palestinian people.

Dear Colleagues:  We are in the midst of a global pandemic, with almost 1.3 Million lives lost around the world. There are many emerging health challenges. These should be the focus of the agenda — not politics.

Let me tell you what is really happening on the ground. Understanding that pandemics know no borders, Israel has strengthened its cooperation with the Palestinian Authority in order to prevent, mitigate and  address the spread of the virus in the region. The ongoing cooperation includes consultations, training and information sharing, cooperation with Palestinian medical teams, and delivery of COVID-19-related PPE. (Personal Protective Equipment for coronavirus)

As you well know, this cooperation also extends to Palestinians being treated in Israeli hospitals on a daily basis. This is the reality. And it is vital we all stand up to the misuse of this forum and the politicization of an, otherwise, UN professional agency.

Let us turn now to Syria, who is also behind this decision.

This is a regime that uses chemical weapons on its own citizens, a regime that deliberately targets and destroys health centers, threatens WHO staff and prevents first aid care to be delivered. This is the reality and many of you know it.

Three years ago, WHO experts underwent a field assessment in the Golan Heights and drafted a 16-pages report on the health conditions in this region.

It clearly states that -and I quote: “There were no significant barriers for residents to access primary, secondary or tertiary care, even for the most vulnerable members of the community.”

As you know, this report was never published. But I have it with me, and I will be happy to share it with any of you.

As you will see in the report, any person living in the Israeli Golan Heights has the same access to the same quality health care, as the people living in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem- regardless of their religion or faith. Simple as that.

I can only wish that Syrian people living in Idlib and Aleppo will have access to similar health services.

Astonishingly, the report was never published due to pressure from Syria on the WHO secretariat.

It is too bad the secretariat caved in.

Excellencies, dear colleagues: What I am asking of you today is not to give a hand to the distortion and abuse of this forum. We object to this decision and call for a vote. We will vote NO and I call others to vote with us.

Thank you.

The post Statement by Israel to 73rd World Health Assembly appeared first on UN Watch.

“We are delighted that Alan Secter has joined the UN Watch team,” said Executive Director Hillel Neuer. “Alan brings deep major gifts experience to the role, as well as well-rounded expertise in virtually all aspects of financial resource development. He is a proven leader and will be real asset as we expand our North American operation.”

An accomplished fundraiser with leading institutions in New York City, Secter will serve as the chief fundraising officer and lead professional in the U.S. and Canada, to conceive and drive fundraising with the goal of expanding UN Watch’s programming and advocacy, and supporting UN Watch’s vital mission as well as its multi-year strategic vision for growth.

“We are delighted to have a professional of Alan’s caliber as our North American Director of Development. Adding Alan to the team is part of a broader strategy to establish a Manhattan office, expand our outreach, and substantially increase our impact,” said Neuer.

Secter comes to UN Watch after holding senior development positions with the Jewish Federations of North America, Yeshiva University and OHEL Children’s Home. While at YU, he raised millions of dollars to fund scholarships and launch important new programs, and was Executive Director of the Annual Fund. Secter led the “I AM YU” campaign, a crowdfunding initiative that raised $6 million, and has extensive background working with endowments and foundations.

“UN Watch’s mission speaks deeply to me,” said Secter. “UN Watch plays a vital role in defending Israel and promoting human rights. I am thrilled to serve in this capacity, and excited to work with Hillel Neuer. The organization is poised for significant growth, and I look forward to helping take UN Watch to the next level of success.”

Secter holds a Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a BA from the University of Toronto. Most recently, he worked in real estate as a Director of Business Development for MiT National Land Services, a title insurance company owned by Newmark Knight Frank.

He sees joining UN Watch as the “culmination of twenty years of professional and academic training.” To contact Alan Secter, click here.

UN Watch is an independent human rights organization dedicated to holding the United Nations accountable to its founding principles.

The post Alan Secter Named UN Watch North American Director of Development appeared first on UN Watch.

GENEVA, November 12, 2020 — Deviating from its focus on the global response to the coronavirus pandemic, the annual assembly of the UN’s World Health Organization held a four-hour session focused on Israel, which saw itself condemned in speeches by some 30 delegations, including Iran, Syria, North Korea, Cuba, Malaysia, Lebanon and Venezuela, for allegedly violating the health rights of Palestinians and Syrians in the Golan Heights.

The session concluded with a vote of 78 to 14, with 32 abstentions, to adopt a resolution, co-sponsored by Syria, Cuba, Turkey, Qatar and the Palestinian delegation, requiring the WHO to hold the same debate at next year’s assembly, and to prepare another report on the “Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.”

Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based United Nations Watch, an independent non-governmental organization that monitors the UN, condemned the “cynical politicization of the world’s top health agency at the expense of focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic and other vital global health priorities and emergencies.”

WHO Singles Out Israel, Ignores Syria, Yemen, Venezuela

“Out of 23 items on the current world health assembly’s Agenda, only one, Item 17 targeting Israel, focused on a specific country. There was no agenda item or resolution on any other country, conflict, civil war or political impasse—not on Syria, where hospitals and other medical infrastructure are repeatedly and deliberately bombed by Syrian and Russian forces; not on war-torn Yemen, where 14 million are in dire need of health assistance; and not on Venezuela, where the health system is in a state of collapse and 7 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance,” said Neuer.

Session Falsely Accused Israel of Violating Palestinian & Syrian Health Rights

“Today’s four-hour assault on Israel at the WHO promoted the lie that Israel is harming Palestinian health rights,” said Neuer. “The opposite is true.”

“Despite the conflict, Israel grants entry to tens of thousands of Palestinians who receive top-level medical care at Israeli hospitals. Even the UN’s own Middle East peace envoy hailed Israel’s ‘excellent’ coordination and cooperation with Palestinians amid the coronavirus pandemic,” said Neuer.

“Israeli medical teams coordinate with Palestinian medical professionals to provide training and assistance. Israel transfers medical equipment and has trained dozens of Palestinian doctors, nurses and medical personnel from Gaza,” Neuer added.

Click here for today’s UN Watch report on Israeli health cooperation with Palestinians.

“Moreover, it’s particularly absurd for the WHO to enact a resolution effectively accusing Israel of violating the health rights of Syrians in the Golan, when in reality Israeli hospitals have provided life-saving treatment to Syrians fleeing to the Golan from the Assad regime’s barbaric attacks,” he said.

When you accuse somebody else of violating health rights while speaking beneath a portrait of your genocidal dictator boss who routinely drops barrel bombs on hospitals in his own country to kill his own people.

At today's @WHO annual assembly. France voted to renew this debate. https://t.co/CFoT8GnfAy

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 12, 2020

France in EU Minority That Supported Biased Resolution 

The vote was 78 to 14 on the resolution, with 32 abstentions and 56 absent.

UN Watch applauded numerous countries which this year shifted their votes from Yes to Abstain, including Sweden, Norway, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Iceland, and Uruguay. Norway explained that the WHO was not a forum for political matters. There were 32 abstentions this year, 11 more than in 2019.

“However, amid a global pandemic, the minority of EU member states and other democracies who voted for the resolution should be ashamed, including France, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Japan, India, New Zealand, Luxembourg and Monaco.”

“These countries have now encouraged the continued hijacking of the world’s health priorities, and the diversion of precious time, money, and resources to fight global disease, in order to wage a political prosecution of Israel.”

“Anyone who has ever walked into an Israeli hospital or clinic knows that they provide world-class health care to thousands of Palestinian Arabs—including over the past month to Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat—as well as to Syrians fleeing Assad,” Neuer added.

Those that voted no like last year were the US, UK, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Honduras, Hungary, and Israel, while those that changed their votes to no this year were Slovenia, Cameroon, Eswatini and Micronesia.

In addition to voting against the resolution, the US, the UK and Canada took the floor to object to the politicization of the forum.

Resolution Mandates Renewed Report & Debate on Israel

The resolution mandates the WHO director-general to prepare another report next year, to be submitted to the 74th World Health Assembly in 2021, thereby ensuring another day devoted to vitriolic accusations against Israel by Iran, Syria, Venezuela and others.

By enacting the resolution, the assembly also adopted a WHO report which claims that “Palestinians living under chronic occupation are exposed to high levels of violence.” Hamas and Islamic Jihad were nowhere mentioned.

The report accused Israel of “violence towards demonstrators,” yet completely ignored the role of Hamas and other terrorist groups in orchestrating violence and encouraging demonstrators to approach the hostile area of the Gaza-Israel border.

The WHO report further points the finger at Israel for Palestinian “mental health and psychosocial problems,” implicitly blaming the Jewish state for causing Palestinians to suffer “depression, anxiety disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia.”

The WHO’s report lauded UNRWA’s role in training 2,000 staff members in providing mental health services, but omitted the role of UNRWA teachers’ incitement to terrorism and violence on the mental health of Palestinian children.

_____

Resolution: “Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan”

Votes in favour: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Bhutan, Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, China, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Djibouti, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, France, Guyana, India, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Libya, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zimbabwe.

Votes against: Australia, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Czech Republic, Eswatini, Germany, Honduras, Hungary, Israel, Micronesia (Federated States of), Slovenia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United States of America.

Abstentions: Austria, Barbados, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, Italy, Kenya, Latvia, Lithuania, Madagascar, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Republic of Moldova, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Sweden, Ukraine, Uruguay.

Absent: Albania, Andorra, Bahamas, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gabon, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Nepal, Nigeria, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Suriname, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, United Republic of Tanzania, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Zambia.

🇵🇰 Pakistan at @WHO's annual special meeting to condemn Israel: "Israel's occupation is responsible for increased mental health problems. One in five Palestinians have anxiety, depression, Post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder or schizophrenia." pic.twitter.com/bxqEFsmufM

— UN Watch (@UNWatch) November 13, 2020

The post WHO Meeting Deviates From Coronavirus to Single Out Israel As Violator of Health Rights appeared first on UN Watch.

Despite the conflict, Israel has granted entry to tens of thousands of Palestinians who received top-level medical care at Israeli hospitals. Medical coordination between Israel and the Palestinian Authority dates back to 1995. According to statistics from Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), in 2018 West Bank Palestinians received more than 20,000 permits for treatment in Israel.[1] A Knesset report published in 2017 found that from 2011 to 2015 more than 42,000 Palestinians had received medical treatment in Israel, with the numbers receiving treatment increasing by 37% during those years.[2]

Notably, Israel has continued to grant entry to residents of Gaza and the West Bank seeking medical treatment despite numerous cases where Palestinians abused the permits for terrorist purposes. In May 2019, Hamas operative Fadi Abu al-Subh entered Israel on a medical permit, intending to team up with other Hamas operatives and plan terrorist operations.[3] Prior to that, two sisters from Gaza, one of whom needed cancer treatment in Israel, took advantage of the medical permits to attempt to smuggle explosives into Israel using tubes labeled for medication.[4] There have been numerous other such cases.[5]

Contrary to what was said today at the World Health Assembly, Palestinians who have received treatment in Israel acknowledge the care they received. For example, a 2015 report by the Associated Press, “Palestinian patients find help in Israeli hospital,” told of Gaza brother and sister Ahmed and Hadeel Hamdan, teenagers who spend 12 hours a day connected to dialysis machines. “These contraptions — and their hopes for a better life — come from a surprising source: an Israeli hospital.” The teenagers were regular guests at the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa since July 2012. “The hospital would not let them go back to Gaza until Hadeel was able to walk again after being incapacitated for a month,” reported AP. “I thank them very much because they exerted tireless effort, especially with the girl,” their mother, Manal, said.[6]

In another case, Palestinian teen Yusef Rabaya, who was bedridden and unable to stand due to a spinal deformity, received complex reconstructive surgery at Hadassah Hospital. His father praised the medical team “who saved my son.”[7] Palestinian writer Kamell Husseini, whose mother was a cancer patient at Hadassah hospital for many years wrote: “At Hadassah Hospital, cancer patients from Palestine and Israel still treat each other with humanity and respect, despite all of their differences.” He added: “I never felt discriminated against in my dealings with the Jewish doctors and nurses.”[8]

Despite this long history of cooperation that has benefited tens of thousands of Palestinians, in March 2019 the Palestinian Authority announced that it would cease medical referrals to Israeli hospitals, for political reasons. PA Health spokesperson Osama al-Najjar said this was a response to Israel’s decision to deduct $138 million (the amount the Palestinian Authority paid to terrorists in 2018) from tax revenues it collects for the PA. Therefore it is the PA, not Israel, that is currently obstructing Palestinians from receiving life-saving medical treatment in Israel. “These are young children who are dying,” said Dr. Raz Somech, director of pediatrics at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan. “They desire treatment…and we are happy to give it. They must come.”[9]

Israel also coordinates with Palestinian medical professionals to provide training and assistance. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Israel transferred medical equipment and Israeli teams trained dozens of Palestinian doctors, nurses and medical personnel from Gaza.[10] Trainings took place at the Erez Border crossing, at Barzilai Medical Center in the Israeli city of Ashkelon and through conference calls. The training at the Erez Border crossing also included Palestinian doctors from the West Bank.[11] In January 2020, a group of nurses from the West Bank and Gaza completed a four-day medical simulation course at Sheba Medical Center. Since 2009, 150 Palestinian health professionals have completed these medical courses in this Israeli center.[12] Similarly, in September 2019, Assuta Hospital in Ashdod hosted a joint Israeli-Palestinian medical training to perform tracheotomies on small children in babies.[13] In some cases, Israeli doctors go to the Palestinian territories to treat patients. For example, Dr. Iyad Khamaysi of the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, has visited Gaza to treat patients, train physicians and deliver medical equipment.[14]

[1] Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, Palestinians get more medical treatment permits in Israel in 2018 – report, Jerusalem Post (Feb. 12, 2019), https://www.jpost.com/arab-israeli-conflict/palestinians-get-more-medical-treatment-permits-in-israel-in-2018-report-580440.

[2] Data on Medical Treatment to Palestinians in Israeli hospitals, Knesset Research and Information Center (Jan. 2, 2017), https://fs.knesset.gov.il/globaldocs/MMM/302ae8cf-a7b3-e511-80d0-00155d0acb9e/2_302ae8cf-a7b3-e511-80d0-00155d0acb9e_11_10394.pdf.

[3] Gazan Operative of Hamas Received Medical Permits but Exploited Them for Terrorist Purposes, COGAT (July 3, 2019), https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/hamas-operative-arrested-eng-060319.

[4] Judah Ari Gross, Gazan sisters accused of smuggling explosives as cancer medicine, Times of Israel (April 19, 2017), https://www.timesofisrael.com/gazan-sisters-accused-of-smuggling-explosives-in-cancer-medicine/#gs.gxhchs.

[5] Exploiting Israel’s humanitarian policies for terror activities, Israeli Security Agency, https://www.shabak.gov.il/SiteCollectionImages/english/TerrorInfo/%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%9C-%D7%9E%D7%93%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%95%D7%9E%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%98%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%90%D7%A0%D7%92%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%AA.pdf#page=4.

[6] Fares Akram, Palestinian patients find help in Israeli hospital, Associated Press (May 19, 2015), https://apnews.com/7d40f9aa5ce54e41a4fa555793f24ca1.

[7] Brian Blum, Israeli surgeon enables Palestinian teen to stand again, Israel 21c (Jan. 9, 2018), https://www.israel21c.org/israeli-surgeon-enables-palestinian-teen-to-stand-again/.

[8] Kamel Husseini, The Hadassah Model, Ynet (Nov. 12, 2011), https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4159504,00.html.

[9] Maayan Jaffe-Hoffman, ‘Palestinian infants and children are dying,’ Jerusalem Post (Aug. 16, 2019), https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/palestinian-infants-and-children-are-dying-598771.

[10] Amid coronavirus pandemic, Gaza medics trained by Israeli teams – report, Times of Israel (April 11, 2020), https://www.timesofisrael.com/amid-coronavirus-pandemic-gaza-medics-trained-by-israeli-teams-report/#gs.gxl9ej; Israelis and Palestinians Fight COVID-19 Together, IDF (July 8, 2020), https://www.idf.il/en/minisites/idfs-response-to-covid-19/israelis-and-palestinians-fight-covid-19-together/.

[11] Entsar Abu Jahal, Hamas quietly allows Gaza doctors to get COVID-19 training in Israel, AL-Monitor (April 26, 2020), https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/04/gaza-doctors-coronavirus-training-israel-ramallah.html.

[12] Adam Rasgon, Palestinian nurses from West Bank and Gaza hone their skills at Israeli hospitals, Times of Israel (Jan. 2, 2020), https://www.timesofisrael.com/palestinian-nurses-hone-their-skills-at-israeli-medical-institution/#gs.gxlovf.

[13] First Israeli-Palestinian Medical Conference of its Kind Held at Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod, COGAT (March 19, 2020), https://www.gov.il/en/departments/news/medicalconferenceinashdod260919.

[14] Sara Toth Stub, Crossing the Gaza Border for Care, US News and World Report (May 17, 2018), https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2018-05-17/medical-missions-to-gaza-reveal-collaboration-between-israelis-palestinians.

The post Does Israel Violate Palestinian Health Rights as Claimed Today by the WHO? appeared first on UN Watch.

While the UN procedure known as Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is meant to scrutinize governments and thereby strengthen the basic rights and freedoms of their citizens, according to a UN Watch count, 78 out of 109 countries, or 72 percent, praised Libya for its human rights achievements.

This includes 46 countries that glowingly praised the Tripoli government, and another 32 that expressed some praise for Libya’s alleged achievements.

Only 31 countries used their one minute of allotted speaking time to genuinely express their concern about the deteriorating situation of human rights in Libya.

Below is a selection of the praise expressed by the majority of delegates:

China: “We welcome Libya’s efforts to protect and promote human rights and appreciate their efforts to promote education, health and combat violence against women.”

Saudi Arabia: “The national report shows the efforts made by Libya on human rights, and we welcome the acceptance of previous recommendations.”

Pakistan: “We commend the resolve of Libya in promoting human rights despite difficulties in the country.”

Iran: “We recognize the government’s achievements in combating trafficking in persons.”

Jordan: “We reiterate our full support for Libya’s efforts to foster the continued political process and ensure the participation of all political parties in the dialogue.”

Kuwait: “We commend the progress made in the field of human rights, right to work, healthcare, education, women, and persons with disabilities.”

Oman: “We support Libya’s efforts on ending enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention.”

Vietnam: “We take note of Libya’s commitment towards protecting human rights.”

Azerbaijan: “We appreciate the effort made in promoting human rights in the country including securing the rights to education, work and health, and advancements on the rights of women and persons with disabilities.”

Palestine: “We take due note of their report and note their ongoing efforts to protect human rights despite their circumstances.”

The post 72% of UNHRC Reps Praise Libya on Human Rights appeared first on UN Watch.

Below is Israeli Ambassador Chaim Herzog’s historic November 10, 1975 speech delivered right after the U.N. declared that “Zionism is racism.” The resolution was repealed in 1991, but its spirit tragically lives on in the form of the U.N.’s enduring obsession with condemning Israel.

________

Speech to the United Nations General Assembly, by Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Chaim Herzog, November 10, 1975. Source: Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It is symbolic that this debate, which may well prove to be a turning point in the fortunes of the United Nations and a decisive factor as to the possible continued existence of this Organization, should take place on 10 November. This night, 37 years ago, has gone down in history as the Kristallnacht, or the Night of the Crystals. This was the night of 10 November 1938 when Hitler’s nazi stormtroopers launched a co-ordinated attack on the Jewish community in Germany, burnt the synagogues in all the cities and made bonfires in the streets, of the Holy Books and the Scrolls of the Holy Laws and the Bible. It was the night when Jewish homes were attacked and heads of families were taken away, many of them never to return. It was the night when the windows of all Jewish businesses and stores were smashed, covering the streets in the cities of Germany with a film of broken glass which dissolved into millions of crystals, giving that night the name of Kristallnacht, the Night of the Crystals. It was the night which led eventually to the crematoria and the gaschambers, to Auschwitz, Birkenau, Dachau, Buchenwald, Theresienstadt, and others. It was the night which led to the most terrifying holocaust in the history of man.

It is indeed fitting, that this draft, conceived in the desire to deflect the Middle East from its moves towards peace, and born of a deep, pervading feeling of anti-Semitism, should come up for debate on this day which recalls one of the tragic days in one of the darkest periods of history. It is indeed fitting that the United Nations, which began its life as an anti-Nazi Alliance, should, 30 years later, find itself on its way to becoming the world centre of anti-Semitism. Hitler would have felt at home on a number of occasions during the past year, listening to the proceedings in this form and, above all, to the proceedings during the debate on Zionism.

It is a sobering reflection indeed to consider to what this body has been dragged down, if we are obliged today to contemplate an attack on Zionism. For this attack constitutes not only an anti-Semitic attack of the foulest type, but also an attack in this world body on Judaism, one of the oldest-established religions in the world, a religion which has given the world the human values of the Bible, a religion, from which two other great religions, Christianity and Islam, sprang – a great and established religion that has given to the world the Bible with its Ten Commandments; the great prophets of old, Moses, Isaiah, Amos; the great thinkers of history, Maimonides, Spinoza, Marx, Einstein; many of the masters of the arts; and as high a percentage of Nobel Prize winners in the world, in the sciences, the arts and the humanities, as has been achieved by any other people on earth.

One can but ponder and wonder at the prospect of countries, which consider themselves to be part of the civilized world, joining in this first organized attack on an established religion since the Middle Ages. Yes, to these depths are we being dragged by those who propose this draft resolution to the Middle Ages.

The draft resolution before the Third Committee was originally a resolution condemning racism and colonialism, a subject on which consensus could have been achieved, a consensus which is of great importance to all of us and to our African colleagues in particular. However, instead of this being permitted to happen, a group of countries, drunk with the feeling of power inherent in the automatic majority, and without regard to the importance of achieving a consensus on this issue, railroaded the Committee in a contemptuous manner by the use of the automatic majority, into bracketing Zionism with the subject under discussion. Indeed, it is difficult to speak of this base move with any measure of restraint.

I do not come to this rostrum to defend the moral and historical values of the Jewish people. They do not need to be defended. They speak for themselves. They have given to mankind much of what is great and eternal. They -have done for the spirit of man more than can readily be appreciated in a forum such as this one.

I come here to denounce the two great evils which menace society in general and a society of nations in particular. These two evils are hatred and ignorance. These two evils are the motivating force behind the proponents of this draft resolution and their supporters. These two evils characterize those who would drag this world organization, the idea of which was first conceived by the prophets of Israel, to the depths to which it has been dragged today.

The key to understanding Zionism lies in its name. In the Bible, the westernmost of the two hills of ancient Jerusalem was called Zion. The period was the tenth century B.C. In fact, the name “Zion” appears 152 times in the Old Testament referring to Jerusalem. The name is overwhelmingly a poetic and prophetic designation. The religious and emotional qualities of the name arise from the importance of Jerusalem as the Royal City and the City of the Temple. “Mount Zion” is the place where God dwells according to the Bible. Jerusalem or Zion, is a place where the Lord is King according to Isaiah, and where he has installed his King David, as quoted in the Psalms.

King David made Jerusalem the capital of Israel almost 3,000 years ago, and Jerusalem has remained the capital ever since. During the centuries the term “Zion” grew and expanded to mean the whole of Israel. The Israelites in exile could not forget Zion.

The Hebrew psalmist sat by the waters of Babylon and swore “If I forget thee, 0 Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning”. This oath has been repeated for thousands of years by Jews throughout the world. It is an oath which was made over 700 years before the advent of Christianity, and over 1,200 years before the advent of Islam.

In view of all these connotations, Zion came to mean the Jewish homeland, symbolic of Judaism, of Jewish national aspirations.

Every Jew, while praying to his God, wherever he is in the world, faces towards Jerusalem. These prayers have expressed for over 2,000 years of exile the yearning of the Jewish people to return to its ancient homeland, Israel. In fact, a continuous Jewish presence, in larger or smaller numbers, has been maintained in the country over the centuries.

Zionism is the name of the national movement of the Jewish people and is the modern expression of the ancient Jewish heritage. The Zionist ideal, as set out in the Bible, has been, and is, an integral part of the Jewish religion.

Zionism is to the Jewish people what the liberation movement of Africa and Asia have been to their peoples. Zionism is one of the most stirring and constructive national movements in human history. Historically, it is based on a unique and unbroken connection, extending some 4,000 years, between the People of the Book and the Land of the Bible.

In modern times, in the late 19th century, spurred by the twin forces of anti-Semitic persecution and nationalism, the Jewish people organized the Zionist movement in order to transform its dream into reality. Zionism, as a political movement, was the revolt of an oppressed nation against the depredations and wicked discrimination and oppression of the countries in which anti-Semitism flourished. It is indeed no coincidence at all, and not surprising, that the sponsors and supporters of this draft resolution include countries which are guilty of the horrible crime of anti-Semitism and discrimination to this very day.

Support for the aim of Zionism was written into the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, and was again endorsed by the United Nations in 1947, when the General Assembly voted by an overwhelming majority for the restoration of Jewish independence in our ancient land.

The re-establishment of Jewish independence in Israel, after centuries of struggle to overcome foreign conquest and exile, is a vindication of the fundamental concepts of the equality of nations and of self-determination. To question the Jewish people’s right to national existence and freedom, is not only to deny to the Jewish people the right accorded to every other people on this globe but is also to deny the central precepts of the United Nations.

For Zionism is nothing more – and nothing less – than the Jewish people’s sense of origin and destination in the land, linked eternally with its name. It is also the instrument whereby the Jewish nation seeks an authentic fulfilment of itself. And the drama is enacted in the region in which the Arab nation has realized its sovereignty in 20 States, comprising a hundred million people in four and a half million square miles, with vast resources. The issue therefore is not whether the world will come to terms with Arab nationalism. The question is, at what point Arab nationalism, with its prodigious glut of advantage, wealth and opportunity, will come to terms with the modest but equal rights of another Middle Eastern nation to pursue its life in security and peace.

The vicious diatribes on Zionism voiced here by Arab representatives, may give this Assembly the wrong impression, that while the rest of the world supported the Jewish national liberation movement, the Arab world was always hostile to Zionism. That is not the case. Arab leaders, cognizant of the rights of the Jewish people, fully endorsed the virtues of Zionism. Sheriff Hussein, the leader of the Arab world during the First World War, welcomed the return of the Jews to Palestine. His son, Emir Feisal, who represented the Arab world in the Paris Peace Conference had this to say about Zionism on 3 March 1919:

We Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement… We will wish the Jews a hearty welcome home… We are working together for a reformed and revised Near East, and our two movements complement one another. The movement is national and not imperialistic. There is room in Syria for us both. Indeed, I think that neither can be a success without the other.

It is perhaps pertinent at this point to recall, that in 1947, when the question of Palestine was being debated in the United Nations, the Soviet Union strongly supported the Jewish independence struggle. It is particularly relevant to recall some of Mr. Andrei Gromyko’s remarks on 14 May 1947, one year before our independence:

“As we know, the aspirations of a considerable part of the Jewish people are linked with the problem of Palestine and of its future administration. This fact scarcely required proof.. During the last war, the Jewish people underwent exceptional sorrow and suffering. Without any exaggeration, this sorrow and suffering are indescribable. It is difficult to express them in dry statistics on the Jewish victims of the fascist aggressors. The Jews in the territories where the Hitlerites held sway, were subjected to almost complete physical annihilation. The total number of Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazi executioners is estimated at approximately six million …”.
 
“The United Nations cannot and must not regard this situation with indifference, since this would be incompatible with the high principles proclaimed in its Charter, which provides for the defence of human rights, irrespective of race, religion or sex…”

The fact that no Western European State has been able to ensure the defence of the elementary rights of the Jewish people and to safeguard it against the violence of the fascist executioners, explains the aspirations of the Jews to establish their own State. It would be unjust not to take this into consideration and to deny the right of the Jewish people to realize this aspiration. Those were the words of Mr. Andrei Gromyko at the General Assembly session on 14 May 1947.

How sad it is, to see here a group of nations, many of whom have but recently freed themselves from colonial rule, deriding one of the most noble liberation movements of this century, a movement which not only gave an example of encouragement and determination to the people struggling for independence, but also actively aided many of them during the period of preparation for their independence or immediately thereafter.

Here you have a movement, which is the embodiment of a unique pioneering spirit, of the dignity of labour, and of enduring human values, a movement which has presented to the world an example of social equality and open democracy, being associated in this resolution with abhorrent political concepts.

We, in Israel, have endeavored to create a society which strives to implement the highest ideals of society – political, social and cultural – for all the inhabitants of Israel, irrespective of religious belief, race or sex. Show me another pluralistic society in this world in which, despite all the difficult problems among which we live, Jew and Arab live together with such a degree of harmony, in which the dignity and rights of man are observed before the law, in which no death sentence is applied, in which freedom of speech, of movement, of thought, of expression are guaranteed, in which even movements, which are opposed to our national aims, are represented in our Parliament.

The Arab delegates talk of racism. It lies not in their mouths. What has happened to the 800,000 Jews who lived for over 2,000 years in the Arab lands, who formed some of the most ancient communities long before the advent of Islam? Where are those communities? What happened to the people, what happened to their property?

The Jews were once one of the important communities in the countries of the Middle East, the leaders of thought, of commerce, of medical science. Where are they in Arab society today? You dare talk of racism when I can point with pride to the Arab Ministers who have served in my Government; to the Arab deputy speaker of my Parliament; to Arab officers and men serving of their own volition in our defence, border and police forces, frequently commanding Jewish troops; to the hundreds of thousands of Arabs from all over the Middle East crowding the cities of Israel every year; to the thousands of Arabs from all over the Middle East coming for medical treatment to Israel; to the peaceful coexistence which has developed; to the fact that Arabic is an official language in Israel on a par with Hebrew; to the fact that it is as natural for an Arab to serve in public office in Israel as it is incongruous to think of a Jew serving in any public office in any Arab country, indeed being admitted to many of them. Is that racism? It is not. That is Zionism.

It is our attempt to build a society, imperfect though it may be – and what society is perfect? – in which the visions of the prophets of Israel will be realized. I know that we have problems. I know that many disagree with our Government’s policies. Many in Israel, too, disagree from time to time with the Government’s policies, and are free to do so, because Zionism has created the first and only real democratic State in a part of the world that never really knew democracy and freedom of speech.

This malicious resolution, designed to divert us from its true purpose, is part of a dangerous anti-Semitic idiom which is being insinuated into every public debate by those who have sworn to block the current move towards accommodation and ultimately towards peace in the Middle East. This, together with similar moves, is designed to sabotage the efforts of the Geneva Conference for peace in the Middle East…

We are seeing here today but another manifestation of the bitter anti-Semitic, anti-Jewish hatred which animates Arab society. Who would have believed that in the year of 1975 the malicious falsehoods of the Elders of Zion would be distributed officially by Arab Governments? Who would have believed that we would today contemplate an Arab society which teaches the vilest anti-Jewish hate in the kindergartens? Who would have believed that an Arab Head of State would feel obliged to indulge publicly in anti-Semitism of the cheapest nature when visiting a friendly nation?

We are being attacked by a society which is motivated by the most extreme form of racism known in the world today. This is the racism which was expressed so succinctly in the words of the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), Yasser Arafat, in his opening address at a symposium in Tripoli, Libya, and I quote: “There will be no presence in the region except for the Arab presence”. In other words, in the Middle East, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf, only one presence is allowed, and that is the Arab presence. No other people, regardless of how deep are its roots in the region, is to be permitted to enjoy its right of self-determination.

Look at the tragic fate of the Kurds of Iraq. Look at what happened to the black population in southern Sudan. Look at the dire peril in which an entire community of Christians finds itself in Lebanon. Look at the avowed policy of the PLO, which calls, in its Palestine Covenant, for the destruction of the State of Israel, which denies any form of compromise on the Palestine issue, and which, in the words of its representative only the other day in this building, considers Tel Aviv to be occupied territory. Look at all this and you see before you the root cause of the pernicious resolution brought before this Assembly. You see the twin evils of this world at work: the blind hatred of the Arab proponents of this resolution, and the abysmal ignorance and wickedness of those who support them.

The issue before this Assembly is not Israel and is not Zionism. The issue is the fate of this Organization. Conceived in the spirit of the prophets of Israel, born out of an anti-Nazi alliance after the tragedy of the Second World War, it has degenerated into a forum which was this last week described by one of the leading writers in a foremost organ of social and liberal thought in the West as, and I quote:

“rapidly becoming one of the most corrupt and corrupting creations in the whole history of human institutions… almost without exception those in the majority come from States notable for racist oppression of every conceivable hue…”

“Israel is a social democracy…  its people and Government have a profound respect for human life, so passionate indeed that, despite every conceivable provocation, they have refused for a quarter of a century to execute a single captured terrorist. They also have an ancient but vigorous culture, and a flourishing technology. The combination of national qualities they have assembled in their brief existence as a State is a perpetual and embittering reproach to most of the new countries whose representatives swagger about the United Nations building. So Israel is envied and hated, and efforts are made to destroy her. The extermination of the Israelis has long been the prime objective of the Terrorist international; they calculate that if they can break Israel, then all the rest of civilization is vulnerable to their assaults”.

And then he goes on to conclude:

“The melancholy truth, I fear, is that the candles of civilization are burning low. The world is increasingly governed not so much by capitalism, or communism, or social democracy, or even tribal barbarism, as by a false lexicon of political cliches, accumulated over half a century and now assuming a kind of degenerate sacerdotal authority… We all know what they are…”

Over the centuries it has fallen to the lot of my people to be the testing agent of human decency, the touchstone of civilization, the crucible in which enduring human values are to be tested. A nation’s level of humanity could invariably be judged by its behaviour towards its Jewish population. It always began with the Jews but never ended with them.

The anti-Jewish pogroms in Czarist Russia were but the tip of the iceberg which revealed the inherent rottenness of the regime which was soon to disappear in the storm of revolution. The anti-Semitic excesses of the Nazis merely foreshadowed the catastrophe which was to befall mankind in Europe.

This wicked resolution must sound the alarm for all decent people in the world. The Jewish people, as a testing agent, has unfortunately never erred. The implications inherent in this shameful move are terrifying indeed.

On this issue, the world as represented in this hall has divided itself into good and bad, decent and evil, human and debased. We, the Jewish people, will recall in history our gratitude to those nations, who stood up and were counted, and who refused to support this wicked proposition. I know that this episode will have strengthened the forces of freedom and decency in this world and will have fortified them in their resolve to strengthen the ideals they so value. I know that this episode will have strengthened Zionism as it has weakened the United Nations.

As I stand on this rostrum, the long and proud history of my people unravels itself before my inward eye, I see the oppressors of our people over the ages as they pass one after another in evil procession into oblivion. I stand here before you as the representative of a strong and flourishing people which has survived them all and which will survive this shameful exhibition and the proponents of this resolution. I stand here as the representative of a people one of whose prophets gave to this world the sublime prophecy which animated the founders of this world Organization and which graces the entrance to this building:

“…nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isaiah ii, 4)

Three verses before that, the Prophet Isaiah proclaimed

“And it shall come to pass in the last days… for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” (Isaiah, ii, 2 and 3)

As I stand on this rostrum, the great moments of Jewish history come to mind as I face you, once again outnumbered and the would-be victim of hate, ignorance and evil. I look back on those great moments. I recall the greatness of a nation which I have the honour to represent in this forum. I am mindful at this moment of the Jewish people throughout the world wherever they may be, be it in freedom or in slavery, whose prayers and thoughts are with me at this moment.

I stand here not as a, supplicant. Vote as your moral conscience dictates to you. For the issue is not Israel or Zionism. The issue is the continued existence of the Organization which has been dragged to its lowest point of discredit by a coalition of despotisms and racists.

The vote of each delegation will record in history its country’s stand on anti-Semitic racism and anti-Judaism. You yourselves bear the responsibility for your stand before history, for as such will you be viewed in history. But we, the Jewish people, will not forget.

For us, the Jewish people, this is but a passing episode in a rich and an event-filled history. We put our trust in our Providence, in our faith and beliefs, in our time-hallowed tradition, in our striving for social advance and human values, and in our people wherever they may be. For us, the Jewish people, this resolution, based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance, is devoid of any moral or legal value. For us, the Jewish people, this is no more than a piece of paper, and we shall treat it as such.

The post Chaim Herzog Speech to the UN on ‘Zionism is Racism’ appeared first on UN Watch.

Clark was appointed by the world’s top health agency to co-chair the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response, an impartial inquiry that will probe the WHO’s handling of the coronavirus and the response of governments around the world. The panel is scheduled to present its progress report today, and the final report in May 2021.

However, according to Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based NGO UN Watch, “Clark’s numerous statements this year praising the WHO for the very actions she is meant to investigate, as well as her history of close ties with Beijing—which backed her recent bid to become UN chief—give rise to the appearance of bias, and could seriously undermine the credibility of the panel’s findings.”

“That is why we have written Ms. Clark a formal letter today, documenting the problematic statements, and urging her to step down from her role as co-chair of the inquiry.” See full letter below.

“The WHO’s selection of Helen Clark for the coronavirus inquiry gives rise to legitimate concerns that both China and the WHO will get a free pass from an investigation whose findings could be essential to protecting global public health,” said Neuer.

UN Watch’s appeal to Clark comes after a recent New York Times report on the WHO’s deference to China and praise for Beijing throughout the course of the pandemic.

The WHO schedule shows the brief progress report (A73/INF./4) will be presented this afternoon under Agenda Item 13.2, which deals with the WHO’s work in health emergencies.

November 10, 2020

Dear Ms. Clark,

UN Watch respectfully requests that you recuse yourself as co-chair of the WHO inquiry into the origin of and global response to the coronavirus pandemic. Though WHO chief Dr. Tedros has lauded you as an independent leader who is singularly qualified to head this investigation, your extensive record of partisan statements defending the WHO as well as your close ties with the Chinese government give rise to the appearance of bias which, under international law, are grounds for recusal.

Concerning the WHO, you have made sweeping claims defending the agency and its handling of the coronavirus. In April, for example, you tweeted an article sympathetic to the WHO’s response to the pandemic since it was notified of the Wuhan outbreak, adding that the “WHO has been in battle mode,” that “the Agency needs support, not brickbats,” and defending the WHO’s response on grounds that it was “guided by rules [the] USA helped write.”

Just last week, in a Bloomberg News interview, when asked if it was wrong for the WHO to gushingly praise China’s response to the outbreak, you evaded the question, saying, “it’s very difficult to criticize any member state.”

In June, you again defended the WHO, despite its failure to swiftly label COVID-19 a “pandemic,” and instead you put the onus on countries for not acting sooner.

Furthermore, in a July radio interview with Newstalk ZB, you said “the WHO has never advocated travel bans” during the pandemic, which is false. Dr. Tedros tweeted in January that the agency opposed travel restrictions.

Concerning China, in 2016 you were described as “a good friend” of the Beijing regime when President Xi Jinping pledged to support your bid for the position of UN Secretary-General.

Months later, as head of the UN Development Program, you supported China’s Belt and Road Initiative, praising the country’s “historic transformation” and contributions to global and social development—even though the $1 trillion-dollar infrastructure and investments scheme has fueled Beijing’s persecution of the Uighurs, many of whom live in a region at the heart of the network.

Also of concern is your close ties with Chinese state propagandist James Chau, a WHO ‘Goodwill Ambassador’ who, according to a complaint by 100 non-governmental organizations, has systematically abused his UN position to whitewash Beijing’s role in the virus outbreak.

In April you appeared on Chau’s program “The China Current,” which is funded by a top Beijing official tied to the Chinese Communist Party apparatus.

In that interview, you implied that China should be considered a model country for the world in its response to the outbreak.

You also criticized the “flat-footed response” of the international community, and hastened to add, “Let’s except from that the World Health Organization,” which “has really tried to give global leadership.”

Even more, when asked in July if the WHO panel would investigate China’s influence over the WHO, you refused to answer. And, despite reports verifying that China withheld information from the WHO, you gave Beijing a pass on its initial response to the virus.

When it comes to your ability to scrutinize the actions of China, your record of supporting other communist dictatorships is an additional concern. For example, you praised Cuba’s Castro regime for sending doctors abroad to fight the coronavirus, even after a November 2019 UN report found that Cuban medics suffered severe human rights abuses and treatment that was tantamount “to a modern-day form of slavery.” The report said Cuban doctors are significantly overworked, receive only two-thirds of monthly wages while the rest is handed over to the regime, and fear threats of reprisals and imprisonment for those who fail to complete a mission abroad. You also paid tribute to Cuba’s dictator Fidel Castro, who systematically violated human rights and attacked UN human rights experts who criticized his regime.

The coronavirus pandemic has seriously impacted the lives of virtually everyone in the world. Assessing the origins, spread, and response to the outbreak is essential for the future of humanity.

Regrettably, as shown above, your numerous partisan statements defending the WHO’s response to the pandemic disqualify you from objectively investigating this question. Your close ties to the Chinese government likewise pose a conflict of interest and create the appearance of bias that undermines your ability to impartially investigate the role of China, where the coronavirus began.

Accordingly, to ensure the credibility and effectiveness of this consequential international inquiry, we respectfully urge you to recuse yourself from your role as co-chair.

Sincerely,
Hillel C. Neuer
Executive Director
United Nations Watch
Geneva, Switzerland

The post Head of WHO Inquiry Into Coronavirus Response Has Close Ties to Beijing, Should Step Down appeared first on UN Watch.

“The UN today showed contempt for both Judaism and Christianity by passing a resolution that makes no mention of the name Temple Mount, which is Judaism’s holiest site, and which is sacred to all who venerate the Bible, in which the ancient Temple was of central importance,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a Geneva-based, independent non-governmental watchdog organization.

One of the other texts condemns Israel for “repressive measures” against Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights, another renews the mandate of the corrupt UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), while another renews the mandate of the UN’s “special committee to investigate Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the Occupied Territories.” (Click here for texts and voting sheets.)

All 193 UN member states belong to the Special Political and Decolonization Committee, or Fourth Committee, that each year adopts the texts with large majorities. Countries’ votes are repeated in December when the GA plenary formally ratifies the texts.

Cuban regime now introducing 7 U.N. General Assembly resolutions singling out 🇮🇱 Israel.

Other upcoming UNGA resolutions:
🇰🇵 North Korea 0
🇻🇪 Venezuela 0
🇵🇰 Pakistan 0
🏴‍☠️ Hamas 0
🇩🇿 Algeria 0
🇹🇷 Turkey 0
🇷🇺 Russia 0
🇨🇳 China 0
🇶🇦 Qatar 0
🇸🇦 Saudi 0
🇮🇶 Iraq 0

Have a nice day. pic.twitter.com/Qk6jDwVwXe

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) November 4, 2020

“The UN’s assault on Israel with a torrent of one-sided resolutions is surreal,” said Neuer.

“Just two weeks after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist group assaulted Israeli civilians with a barrage of rockets from Gaza—while the UN’s General Assembly and Human Rights Council stayed silent—the world body now adds insult to injury by adopting seven lopsided resolutions, whose only purpose is to demonize the Jewish state.”

“While France, Germany, Sweden and other EU states are expected to support most of the estimated 20 resolutions to be adopted against Israel by December, the same European nations have failed to introduce a single UNGA resolution on the human rights situation in China, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Turkey, Pakistan, Vietnam, Algeria, or on 175 other countries,” said Neuer. “Where’s their supposed concern for international law and human rights?”

“Three of today’s resolutions concern UNRWA — yet none mentions that the agency chief was fired last year after top management engaged in what the UN’s own internal probe described as ‘sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other abuses of authority, for personal gain.’ All EU states are complicit in this conspiracy of silence that enables the culture of impunity at UNRWA.”

“One of today’s resolutions—drafted and co-sponsored by Syria—falsely condemns Israel for ‘repressive measures’ against Syrian citizens in the Golan Heights,” said Neuer. “This is but the latest act in the UN’s theater of the absurd.”

The resolution condemns Israel for holding on to the Golan Heights, and demands Israel hand the land and its people to Syria. “It’s astonishing,” said Neuer. “After the Syrian regime has killed half a million of its own people, how can the UN call for more people to be handed over to Assad’s rule? The text is morally galling, and logically absurd.”

“Today’s resolutions claim to care about Palestinians, yet the UN is oblivious to more than 3,000 Palestinians who have been slaughtered, maimed and expelled by Assad’s forces.”

“Today’s farce at the General Assembly underscores a simple fact: the UN’s automatic majority has no interest in truly helping Palestinians, nor in protecting anyone’s human rights; the goal of these ritual, one-sided condemnations is to scapegoat Israel,” said Neuer.

“The UN’s disproportionate assault against the Jewish state undermines the institutional credibility of what is supposed to be an impartial international body. Politicization and selectivity harm its founding mission, eroding the UN Charter’s promise of equal treatment to all nations large and small,” Neuer added.

UN Watch has launched a new website database documenting the UN’s bias against Israel, and features individualized petitions in multiple languages urging governments to stop enabling the subversion of UN Charter principles such as the promise of equal treatment for all nations, large and small.

EU Countries Breach Promise to Oppose UN Bias

The voting by countries like Germany and the Netherlands stands in stark contrast to promises made by their governments.

Last year, after 155 German MPs called on the German government to oppose “politically motivated initiatives and alliances of anti-Israeli Member States” in the UN, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called out UN bias against Israel and committed to oppose “any attempt to isolate or delegitimize Israel” in UN bodies.

Likewise, after the Dutch parliament resolved to “actively oppose UN organizations that devote disproportional attention to Israel,” the Dutch foreign minister declared last year that the Netherlands would “make an active effort to combat disproportionate attention” on Israel at the UN.

Yet both countries today largely went along with the ritual singling out of the Jewish state, as did most other EU states.

The post 138 UN Nations Call Temple Mount Solely by Muslim name Haram al-Sharif, as UN Singles Out Israel 7 Times, Rest of World 0 appeared first on UN Watch.