Iran chosen for executive of UN General Assembly legal committee. Choice of Israel disputed.

On June 18 2014, the UN General Assembly elected members of the executive committees, or the "bureaux" as they are called, of its six Main Committees. Election by acclamation is the norm, and all but one country was acclaimed this year - except for the selection of an Israeli. Once again, the UN played host to an antisemitic attack on the Jewish state, treating Israel as different than all other nations.

The Arab Group of states rejected the nomination of Israel by the Group of Western European and Other States (WEOG), for the Vice-Chair of the Special Political and Decolonization (Fourth) Committee.

The General Assembly's Fourth Committee spends most of its time condemning Israel, and is the origin of the majority of anti-Israel resolutions adopted by the Assembly every year.

Qatar, speaking for the Arab group, said that Israel's "track record was rife with murder". The Arab Group also "expressed regret that there had been no other candidate from the group of States to which Israel belonged." Actually there were 2 other candidates from WEOG, Belgium and Norway.

The Arab states requested a vote, but Mordehai Amihai from Israel was elected Vice-Chair with 74 votes while Belgium and Norway received one vote each. There were 68 abstentions.

Elected by acclamation, however, were Iran as the Vice-Chair of the Sixth Committee (the Legal committee of the General Assembly), and Saudi Arabia as the Vice-Chair of the First Committee (the committee on Disarmament and International Security).

This is just some of Iran's record on "legal questions" and its credentials for advising the nations of the world on the law:
"The court system was subject to political influence, and judges were appointed "in accordance with religious criteria." The supreme leader appoints the head of the judiciary, and the heads of the judiciary, the Supreme Court, and the prosecutor general were clerics...The government often charged political dissidents with vague crimes, such as "antirevolutionary behavior," "moral corruption," "siding with global arrogance," "enmity towards God"...Rape victims ... could be charged with indecency, immoral behavior, or adultery for being in the presence of an unrelated male while unaccompanied....By law four Muslim men or a combination of three men and two women are required to have witnessed the rape for conviction... "

As for the so-called legal process:
"Arbitrary arrest and detention... occurred frequently... Authorities often violated... procedures by holding some detainees, at times incommunicado, for weeks or months without charge or trial, frequently denying contact with family or timely access to legal representation... The courts set prohibitively high bail, even for lesser crimes, and in many cases courts did not set bail...The government placed persons under house arrest without due process to restrict their movement and communication...Authorities commonly used arbitrary arrests to impede alleged antiregime activities. Plainclothes officers often arrived unannounced at homes or offices, arrested persons, conducted raids, and confiscated private documents, passports, computers, electronic media, and other personal items without warrants or other assurances of due process. Individuals often remained in detention facilities for long periods without charges or trials...Authorities often denied detainees access to legal counsel..."

This is Saudi Arabia's record on" international security":
US embassy cables: Hillary Clinton says Saudi Arabia is 'a critical source of terrorist funding:' "...donors in Saudi Arabia constitute the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide...Saudi Arabia remains a critical financial support base for al-Qa'ida, the Taliban, LeT, and other terrorist groups, including Hamas, which probably raise millions of dollars annually from Saudi sources, often during Hajj and Ramadan. In contrast to its increasingly aggressive efforts to disrupt al-Qa'ida's access to funding from Saudi sources, Riyadh has taken only limited action to disrupt fundraising for the UN 1267-listed Taliban and LeT-groups that are also aligned with al-Qa'ida and focused on undermining stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan."

Saudi Arabia is also a party to the Convention of the Organization of the Islamic Conference on Combating International Terrorism which states: "Peoples struggle including armed struggle against foreign occupation, aggression, colonialism, and hegemony, aimed at liberation and self-determination in accordance with the principles of international law shall not be considered a terrorist crime".