UN passes 6 anti-Israel resolutions in 1 day, denies Israeli ties to Jerusalem

The United Nations General Assembly passed six anti-Israel resolutions last Thursday, including a measure denying Israeli ties to Jerusalem and its holy sites.

By: JNS.org

Approved in a 151-6 vote with nine abstentions, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly resolution stated that “any actions taken by Israel, the occupying power, to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy City of Jerusalem are illegal and therefore null and void and have no validity whatsoever.”

The resolution was similar to previous Jerusalem-related measures passed in recent years by the UN cultural body UNESCO, which omitted the name “Temple Mount” and only used the Muslim term for the holy site, “Haram al-Sharif.”

The six countries that voted against Thursday’s resolution were Canada, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, the U.S. and Israel. The nine countries that abstained were Australia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Honduras, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, South Sudan and Togo.

In addition to the Jerusalem measure, the General Assembly passed a resolution condemning Israel’s control over the Golan Heights, calling the area Syrian territory and stating that Israeli “occupation” is a “a stumbling block in the way of achieving a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the region,” despite the six-year-long civil war raging in Syria.

Further, the General Assembly passed a resolution calling on the UN to observe an “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” annually on Nov. 29—the anniversary of UN Resolution 181, which called for the creation of a Jewish state in British Mandatory Palestine.

Other anti-Israel measures passed Thursday included resolutions titled “Committee on the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people,” “Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine” and “Special information program on the question of Palestine of the Department of Public Information of the Secretariat.”

UN bodies have adopted 18 resolutions against Israel so far this year.

In condemning Thursday’s resolutions, Israel’s General Assembly delegate noted that the UN continues to “annually adopt biased resolutions and devote precious resources—almost $6.5 million of its budget—to politicized bodies whose sole purpose [is] to attack and denounce Israel.”