By Williaim Z. Nardi
Thursday, August 01, 2019
The United Nations economic and social council recently
singled out Israel for violating women’s rights by a vote of 40–2 with nine
abstentions and three countries absent.
The resolution criticized Israel for posing a “major
obstacle” for Palestinian women “with regard to their advancement,
self-reliance, and integration in the development of their society,” UN
Watch reported.
The Council then resolved Israel should address these
issues by complying with the 1994 agreement signed with the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO): fully opening Palestinian access to border
crossings in the Gaza Strip, as well as restoring and replacing “civilian
property, vital infrastructure, agricultural lands and government institutions
that have been damaged or destroyed due to its military operations,” according
to a UN press release.
Iran, Saudia Arabia, Yemen and Pakistan were among the
54-nation committee which proposed the resolution — all countries that have
seen their fair share of criticism for human-rights abuses.
“It amazes me how the U.N. condones votes like these. It
is a total mockery of human rights to allow Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, and
Yemen to name Israel as the world’s only violator of women’s rights,” wrote
Nikki Haley, the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, on Twitter.
Only the U.S. and Canada voted against the resolution,
while Brazil, Cameroon, Germany, Jamaica, Mexico, Romania, Togo, Ukraine, and
United Kingdom abstained.
Jonathan Cohen, the U.S. ambassador to the United
Nations, expressed concern about the insertion of “one-sided and unhelpful
language” in the resolution, pointing out that Hamas, the Palestinian terror
group active in the Gaza Strip, limits women’s ability to move freely and
appear in public. A UN press release noted that Cohen “stressed that
politicized efforts at the United Nations will do nothing to resolve the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The U.K., which abstained from the vote, was concerned
that the resolution was one-sided.
The Israeli representative to the committee said that
many of the issues facing Palestinian women stem from internal cultural issues
and shouldn’t be projected onto Israel — especially as the Palestinian
Authority ignores Israeli outreach efforts.
Shortly after, the council adopted a second resolution
censuring the state of Israel for “economic and social repercussions of the
Israeli occupation.”
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