The Blade · 11 November 1975

CP-1975-011

U.N. Issue On Zionism As Racism Is Approved

Vote Is 72-35; Arab-Led Resolution In Assembly Opposed By U.S., Israel

Associated Press, United Nations

Transcribed from the clipping

“UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. (AP) — The U.N. General Assembly overrode bitter opposition from the United States and Israel Monday night to approve an Arab-inspired resolution that labels Zionism ‘a form of racism and racial discrimination.’ The vote was 72-35 with 32 abstentions. ‘A great evil has been loosed upon the world,’ U.S. Ambassador Daniel P. Moynihan told the 143-nation assembly after casting the U.S. vote against the resolution. ‘The abomination of anti-Semitism has been given the appearance of international sanction.’ Among those voting against were the United States, Israel, the nine members of the European Common Market, Australia, and Canada. Supporters of the resolution equating Zionism with racism said it was anti-Zionist but not anti-Semitic. They argued that Zionism — the movement for a Jewish national homeland in Palestine — is exclusive and thus racist. Mr. Moynihan said the assembly had granted ‘symbolic amnesty, and more, to the murderers of the six million European Jews’ during World War II. He added that the United States ‘does not acknowledge, will not abide by, will never acquiesce in this infamous act’… Israeli Ambassador Chaim Herzog, taut with emotion, charged that the United Nations ‘is on its way to becoming the world center of anti-Semitism.’ It was fitting, he said, that the decision was voted on Nov. 10 — the date in 1938 when Nazi stormtroopers attacked Jewish homes, businesses, and synagogues throughout Germany, smashing so many windows that it became known as ‘Krystal Night.’… Secretary General Kurt Waldheim said the vote ‘reflects a deep and bitter division among the membership at a time when the need for understanding on a wide range of critically important questions is more than ever necessary’… The votes followed approval of two resolutions on the Palestine Liberation Organization. One of the approved resolutions, adopted by a vote of 93-18 with 27 abstentions, in effect bypasses Security Council decisions about Israel’s right to exist and stresses instead the rights of the Palestinians to return to their homes and property… The other resolution calls for the PLO’s participation ‘in all efforts, deliberations, and conferences on the Middle East’ held under U.N. auspices. The vote was 101-8 with 25 abstentions. The United States voted against both measures.”

Photograph caption

ANGRY MR. MOYNIHAN DENOUNCES U.N. ACTION — Assembly told U.S. will never accept ‘infamous act’

Context added by this archive

The vote itself, on the front page in Toledo, with the count, the losing arguments and the winning ones. Two other resolutions passed the same night and are reported in the same column: the right of Palestinians to return to their homes and property, 93 to 18, and a seat for the PLO at every United Nations conference on the Middle East, 101 to 8. The paper spells it Krystal Night.

Cite this item

"U.N. Issue On Zionism As Racism Is Approved," The Blade, 11 November 1975. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1975-011. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1975-011

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