Miami News · 29 January 1980

CP-1980-007

UN papers on Zionism challenge Israel itself

By Bernard D. Nossiter, The New York Times News Service

Transcribed from the clipping

“On its face, the juncture of Zionism and racism makes little sense, at least according to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary… The UN formula appears to mean that Israel is a state founded on a belief of Jews that they are biologically superior to Palestinian Arabs and others. In the world after Hitler no charge could be more morally damning.… It is clear that for most of those who regularly support the equation it does not have a biological meaning. Indeed, they are far from clear about what they do mean. Biyagamage Jayasena Fernando, delegate of Sri Lanka, which introduced the UN resolution, said: ‘There are problems in my mind. Racism is an ethnic thing. Zionism is a political thing, political security… Our Arab brothers feel this is a form of racism. I’m sorry to say I haven’t taken the trouble to analyze and come to a conclusion.’ So Sri Lanka can be described as a consensus supporter of the equation. B. Akporode Clark, the influential delegate from Nigeria, was just as blunt… ‘Israel is a petulant child, maximizing her relations with South Africa. It’s done in order to spit in the face of the Africans. It’s politics. You use any means to build support for your cause.’… ‘Arab friends insist on our support for their formula,’ he explained. ‘Whether it is accurate or not, it might produce the desired results. That’s politics, isn’t it?’… Brazil’s delegate, Sergio Correa da Costa, also betrays uneasiness over his vote… ‘It was politically inspired,’ he replied. ‘Politically it meant some alignment with the Arabs . . . . Brazil is so vulnerable and dependent on Arab oil.’… Mahmoud Mestiri, who served as Tunisia’s delegate until recently, was almost dismissive about the equation. ‘If Zionism is the establishment of the State of Israel, then everybody is a Zionist,’ he said… ‘Many Arabs want to retain it as a negotiating asset,’ he said. ‘To rewrite it has no meaning. The only thing you can do is forget about it.’ For Mansur Rashid Kikhia of Libya the formula equating Zionism with racism is literal truth. He said: ‘It describes reality, the facts.’”

Photograph caption

PLO, early to label Zionism racist, was allowed to enter UN debates

Context added by this archive

A New York Times correspondent went and asked the delegates who kept voting for it what they thought it meant. The delegate for the country that introduced the 1975 resolution had not worked it out. Nigeria called it a good abstraction. Brazil explained that eighty per cent of its oil came from the Arab world. Tunisia wanted it kept as a bargaining chip. Eleven years later, when the vote to repeal came, Sri Lanka voted against repeal and Tunisia did not vote at all.

Cite this item

"UN papers on Zionism challenge Israel itself," Miami News, 29 January 1980. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1980-007. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1980-007

Elsewhere in the archive

• Is Zionism Racism?The Wichita Eagle · 27 January 1980 · the same dispatch, carried by another paper
• No Compromise At Kiryat ArbaSarasota Herald-Tribune · 12 February 1980 · the same year
• Zionism Equated With Racism By Some Women at U.N. ConferenceThe Brattleboro Informer · 18 July 1980 · the same year
• Israeli denies torture chargesKingsport Times · 25 July 1980 · the same year