US UN offensive exposes hypocrites

0
578

It is no secret that there is an “automatic majority” of countries at the UN all too happy to condemn Israel for any alleged infraction. Many years ago, the Israeli statesman, Abba Eban, said “if Algeria introduced a resolution declaring that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions”.However, what Mr Eban did not famously comment on was what the voting pattern would be like on a resolution that condemned Palestinian terrorism. Last week, the US used anew strategy at the UN to go on the offensive, introducing an amendment to an Algerian-sponsored anti-Israel resolution which named and condemned Hamas – something the resolution did not. And the results were telling. Only aslim majority of UN member states would vote for the amendment.To our credit, New Zealand was one of those countries.New Zealand was also one of 28 countries that outed themselves at the UN as hypocrites. It is consistent to vote against the amendment condemning Hamas and then for the anti-Israel text – as theOIC membersand others did. It is also consistent to vote for the amendment and then against the unamended text, as only a handful of honest nations did. However, to vote for the amendment and then for the unamended text suggests that politics is put ahead of principles.The voting pattern of New Zealand at the UN is concerning. There was a time when our politicians and officials spoke out against Palestinian terror and voted in a balanced and reasonable way. More recently, we see New Zealand separating from traditional allies and voting more like the non-democratic nations.