Posted on 10/01/2015 12:29:51 PM PDT by Dave346
Iranian bid to oust Israel blocked
UNITED NATIONS -- The U.N. General Assembly Wednesday blocked an Iranian bid to oust Israel, adopting by a wide margin a motion proposed by the Nordic countries 'in the interests of the United Nations.'
Delegates decided by 80 votes to 41 with 22 abstentions to set aside an Iranian amendment, backed by Libya and Syria, that would have disqualified the Jewish state from taking its seat in the assembly on grounds that it is a 'base of terror.'
Israeli Ambassador Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the Iranian attempt as 'unspeakably wrong' and 'an undignified spectacle.'
'Gentlemen, check your fanaticism at the door,' he said. 'Those who enter this house must be prepared to live by its rules, and above all by the fundamental principle of universality.'
Iranian Ambassador Said Rajaie-Khorassani, saying the credentials of Israel, 'the Zionist base in the Middle East,' should be terminated, moved that the assembly approve the credentials of all delegations 'except for the credentials of Israel.'
'Do you think that acts of genocide and massacre should or should not disqualify the credentials of a given entity,' Rajaie-Khorassani asked the assembly.
'If the cold blooded mass murder in Sabra and Shatila does not invalidate the credentials (of Israel), then what does,' he asked.
He referred to the two Palestinian camps in Lebanon where hundreds of refugees were murdered by Israeli-backed Christian Lebanese militiamen in 1982.
The Iranian maneuver was defeated by a procedural vote proposed by Denmark on behalf of the five Nordic nations 'in the interests of the future of the United Nations.'
Danish Ambassador Ole Biering, on behalf of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, formally moved that the Iranian amendment be shelved.
Among Islamic countries, only Egypt supported the Nordic call. Iraq abstained and Jordan, Lebanon and Oman took no part. The Soviet bloc voted solidly against the Nordic move.
Netanyahu, who has been Israeli envoy for less than a month, told the assembly, 'destroy the principle of universality, and you deal a mortal blow to the United Nations.
'After all,' he said, 'membership in this organization is not restricted to the democracies. Indeed, the great purpose of this body is to provide a forum where all members should be able to meet and try to resolve their differences peacefully, whatever their political system.'
Similar attempts to oust Israel were made last year and in 1982 and both times the United States warned that if they succeeded the U.S. delegation would walk out and withhold its funds to the world organization.
The United States contributes 25 percent of the approximately $1.6 billion biennial U.N. budget.
South Africa was the only country to be expelled from the assembly.
Delegates took the action in 1974 because the Pretoria government was elected by the white minority and pursued racial separation policies.
Ah 1984, we were on our game then...
Interesting.
Once a leader, always a leader.
Yes Reagan Thatcher and the good Pope
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