Rice Reiterates U.S. Commitment to Fighting Anti-Israel Bias at UN

David Streeter — April 6, 2011 – 4:11 pm | Foreign Policy | Israel Comments (1) Add a comment

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice testified before Congress today and pledged that the United States will continue to fight against the anti-Israel bias at the United Nations. Rice said today:

We also continue to fight for fair and normal treatment for Israel throughout the UN system. The tough issues between Israelis and Palestinians can only be resolved  by direct negotiations between the parties, not in New York and that is why we vetoed a Security Council resolution in February that risked hardening both sides’ positions. We consistently oppose anti-Israel resolutions in the Human Rights Council, the General Assembly, and elsewhere. 

Click here to read the rest of her prepared remarks.

During her testimony Rice spoke about the United States’ efforts to defend Israel’s legitimacy at the UN:

That brings me to another important priority: ensuring Israel gets normal treatment in the UN system. UN members devote disproportionate negative attention to Israel and consistently adopt biased resolutions. I spend a good deal of time working to ensure that Israel’s legitimacy is beyond dispute and its security is never in doubt. 

The tough issues between Israelis and Palestinians can only be solved by direct negotiations between the two parties, not in New York. That’s why the United States vetoed a Security Council resolution on settlements in February that risked hardening the positions of both sides. ... We also think it unwise for the Security Council to attempt to resolve the core issues that divide Israelis and Palestinians.

And:

The United States continues to fight for full and equal Israeli participation throughout the UN system. We supported Israel’s election to the leadership of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and as Chair of the Kimberley Process on conflict diamonds. In December 2009, we succeeded in formally adding Israel to the so-called JUSCANZ consultation group-consisting of Japan, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and others-for the Fifth Committee, which handles budgetary matters. We added Israel to the JUSCANZ group at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. We renewed Israel’s membership in a regional grouping of the World Intellectual Property Organization. And we are working hard to include Israel into the Western European and Others Group in Geneva, allowing it to fully participate in a UN regional group, as it already does in New York. 

Underlying all of this is our bedrock commitment to ensuring that Israel is treated as a full and equal member of the community of nations. As President Obama said last September before the entire UN General Assembly, ‘It should be clear to all that efforts to chip away at Israel’s legitimacy will only be met by the unshakeable opposition of the United States.’

Rice also reiterated the Obama Administration’s opposition to the Goldstone Report, as well as other anti-Israel moves in UN bodies:

We’ve been plain about the deep flaws of the Goldstone Report and the Human Rights Council’s inquiry into the tragic flotilla episode. As we made clear when the Goldstone Report was initially presented, and as we have maintained ever since, we did not see any evidence that the Israeli government had intentionally targeted civilians or otherwise engaged in war crimes-and we note that, in a Washington Post op-ed last weekend, Justice Goldstone has now reached the same conclusion. We would like to see the UN end its actions related to the Goldstone Report and the reports that have flowed from it, and we will continue working to end the anti-Israel bias in the Human Rights Council and other UN bodies. That includes consistently opposing anti-Israel resolutions in the Human Rights Council, the General Assembly, and elsewhere.  Last year at UNESCO in Paris, we were the only ‘no’ vote on five anti-Israel resolutions forced to a vote by the Arab group. In 2009, we withdrew from the Durban Review Conference due mainly to its insistence on reaffirming the 2001 Durban Declaration, which unfairly singles out Israel. 

JTA also reported Rice’s remarks from when she was asked specifically about the report:

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, says the Goldstone report is probably beyond fixing and should simply disappear.

Rice, speaking to a hearing Thursday of the U.S. House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, was reacting to congressional calls on Richard Goldstone to amend the 2009 report on the Gaza War that was based on an investigation of a panel convened by the U.N. Human Rights Council.

The panel, chaired by Goldstone, concluded that Israel had targeted civilians as a matter of policy. Goldstone, a former South African judge, recently withdrew that conclusion.

‘I’m not sure it can be amended,’ Rice said of the report. ‘What we want to see is for it to disappear and no longer be a subject of discussion and debate in the Human Rights Council or the General Assembly or beyond.’

Rice has led the effort to stymie the advance of the report through the U.N. system.

 

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