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UN General Assembly quick to ‘pay tribute’ to Iran’s Raisi but still hasn’t condemned Oct. 7 attack on Israel

The inability of the UN to condemn the mass murder of Jews in Israel but quickly mourn the passing of Raisi — has reinforced for many critics the belief that the UN is heavily biased against Israel.

By Jack Elbaum, The Algemeiner

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) will be holding a gathering to “pay tribute” to Iran’s late president, Ebrahim Raisi, next Thursday, just days after his death, despite still not formally condemning the Iran-backed terror group Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7.

Raisi died on Sunday along with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and several other in a helicopter crash in the mountainous region of northwestern Iran.

The now-deceased Iranian president has for decades been accused of major human rights abuses, most notably for his role on a so-called “death committee” that sentenced thousands of political prisoners to death in 1988, when he was deputy prosecutor of Tehran. In that role, Raisi earned the nickname “the butcher of Tehran.”

Raisi, a hardline Islamist, was widely considered a potential successor to Iran’s so-called “supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as the highest power in the Iranian regime.

The decision to swiftly honor Raisi stands in stark contrast to the UNGA’s muted reaction to Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in southern Israel — where Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped over 250 others as hostages.

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In a letter sent on Tuesday, UNGA president Dennis Francis wrote, “I have the honor to inform you that a plenary meeting of the General Assembly to pay tribute to the memory of the late President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, His Excellency Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi, will be held on Thursday, May 30, 2024 at 10 am, in the General Assembly Hall.”

Francis added that “Member States are encouraged to deliver regional group statements” to help pay tribute to Raisi.

This is not the first act of deference for the late Iranian president. Earlier this week, the UN Security Council stood for a moment of silence in memory of Raisi. Then, the UN flag was also lowered to half-staff.

Outraged at the decision, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan wrote on X/Twitter that then UN was “founded to prevent atrocities, but today it salutes mass-murdering dictators!”

In contrast, the UNGA did not pass its first resolution in response to the Israel-Hamas war until Oct. 27 — 20 days after Hamas’ initial massacre. It called for an immediate ceasefire and demanded widespread humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The resolution garnered 120 votes in favor, 14 opposed, and 45 abstentions.

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However, the UNGA failed to adopt an amendment to the resolution condemning the Oct. 7 attacks.

The UN Security Council has similarly pushed resolutions concerning Israel and Gaza that did not denounce Hamas over the Oct. 7 atrocities.

It also took the UN Women organization until December to condemn the sexual and gender-based violence against girls and women that took place on Oct. 7.

The inability of UN member states to condemn the mass murder of Jews in Israel but quickly mourn the passing of Raisi — the president of a country that Western intelligence agencies have consistently labeled the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism — has reinforced for many critics the belief that the UN is biased against Israel and sympathetic to authoritarian regimes.

After the UN lowered its flag in honor of Raisi, US Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) said, “The UN and the Biden administration should honor the victims of the Iranian regime, not the Butcher of Tehran. Tributes to Raisi are a slap in the face to all those who suffered under his reign.”

Anne Bayefsky — director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust, and president of Human Rights Voices — told Fox News Digital that “one might say this sign of UN respect for mass murderers and terrorist executioners is not a surprise,” because it has consistently refused to condemn Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.