House Passes Rothman’s Resolution to Stop UN Bias Against Israel 
Resolution Urges Member States to Stop Unfair Treatment of Israel at UN; Measure Promotes Even-Handed Approach to Resolving Palestinian-Israeli Conflict--
December 6, 2005
Steve Rothman press release
Original Source: http://rothman.house.gov/news_releases/rel_120605_UN_BIAS_ISRAEL.htm

 (Washington, DC) - Continuing his steadfast support for equitable and just treatment of the State of Israel at the United Nations (UN), Congressman Steve Rothman (D-NJ) today helped secure passage of his House Resolution 438. The resolution urges member states of the UN to end the decades-long double standard against Israel and stop passing resolutions that unfairly single out the Jewish State for criticism. The resolution, which Rothman co-authored with Congressman Mark Kirk (R-IL) and introduced on September 14, 2005, also promotes a more even-handed and constructive approach to resolving conflict in the Middle East. It passed by a vote of 400-1.

Shockingly, although there are a total of 191 member states of the United Nations, approximately 30 percent of the resolutions that are passed annually by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) target only one country, the State of Israel, America's number one strategic ally and the only democracy in the Middle East for criticism. For the past thirty years, the UNGA has passed hundreds of resolutions that criticize Israel. It pays little attention, in comparison, to the years of Palestinian violence and terrorism, the genocides in Sudan, Bosnia, and Rwanda, or the human rights abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tibet, and Cuba. said Rothman. Israel's election to the Vice Presidency of the UNGA during its current session presented UN Member nations with an opportunity to reverse the body's pattern of singling out Israel for inequitable treatment. Instead, just last week the UNGA voted on and passed six resolutions criticizing Israel. 

Rothman stressed that the double standard against Israel is pervasive and must be stopped. For the past thirty years, the UN has continuously funded three entities that support anti-Israel propaganda including the Division for Palestinian Rights (DPR), the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People (CEIRPP), and the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Human Rights Practices Affecting the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories (SCIIHRP). Also, since 1997, at the annual meetings of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, only Israel has had its own agenda item dealing with its alleged human rights violations whereas all other UN member nations, a number of which have abhorrent human rights records, are dealt with in a separate agenda item.

As an additional example of anti-Israel bias at the UN, the State of Israel is the only member nation that has consistently been denied full admission into its regional group-in Israel's case, the Asian Regional Group. In 2000, after lobbying by Congressman Rothman and others, Israel was offered and accepted a limited membership in the Western Europe and Others Group (WEOG) regional bloc at the UN, but the country still retains a second class status, as it cannot participate in UN activities that are not held in New York.

By passing this resolution, the House of Representatives is sending a strong message to member nations of the UNGA that the double standard against Israel must come to an end, Rothman said. It undermines the credibility of the UN as an honest broker for peace in the Middle East and limits its efficacy as an objective multilateral organization that aims to promote cooperative efforts to solve international problems.