Hundreds of legislators call on UN to stop Israel discrimination

In 2020, the UN General Assembly adopted 17 resolutions against Israel and only six resolutions against six of the other 192 member states for human rights violations.

 People hold placards during the "Rally for Equal Rights at the United Nations (Protesting Anti-Israeli Bias)" in Geneva,  March 18, 2019. (photo credit: REUTERS/DENIS BALIBOUSE)
People hold placards during the "Rally for Equal Rights at the United Nations (Protesting Anti-Israeli Bias)" in Geneva, March 18, 2019.
(photo credit: REUTERS/DENIS BALIBOUSE)

More than 300 lawmakers from Europe and North America have called on democracies to end bias by the United Nations against Israel.

“We, 312 lawmakers from both sides of the Atlantic and from across party lines, call on the EU Member States and fellow democracies to help end the systematic discrimination of Israel at the UN,” they wrote in a petition published by the AJC Transatlantic Institute on Monday.

In 2020, the UN General Assembly adopted 17 resolutions against Israel and six against six of the other 192 member states for alleged human rights violations. Some 21% of the UN Human Rights Council’s resolutions focus solely on Israel, which is the only country with a permanent agenda item, the letter said. 

Israel was the only country cited for alleged violations of women’s rights by the UN Economic and Social Council.

“Within the context of rising global antisemitism, the relentless, disproportionate, and ritualistic condemnation of the world’s only Jewish state at the UN is particularly dangerous and must finally end,” the petition said. “Israel deserves attention and scrutiny, as does every other nation. But it also merits equal treatment – nothing more, nothing less.”

The 312 parliamentarians called on EU member states and other democracies to vote against the excessive number of anti-Israel resolutions in the GA and other UN organs, try to abolish the UNHRC permanent agenda item against Israel, and work on dissolving discriminatory UN committees and programs specifically formed against Israel.

UN HIGH COMMISSIONER for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet makes a speech at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, in February. (credit: DENIS BALIBOUSE/REUTERS)
UN HIGH COMMISSIONER for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet makes a speech at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, in February. (credit: DENIS BALIBOUSE/REUTERS)

The letter was signed by lawmakers from various parties in the US, Israel, Canada, the UK, Norway and Switzerland, as well as EU member states Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden. Several Greek cabinet ministers also signed it.

The American Jewish Committee’s Brussels-based Transatlantic Institute promotes US-EU-Israel relations by engaging European decision-makers in EU institutions, NATO and the civil sector.