Shalom sees pro-Israel shift at UN
The Jerusalem Post | January 17, 2005 | Tovah Lazaroff
 

The anti-Israel tide in the United Nations is turning, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Sunday as he welcomed its decision last week to hold a special session of the General Assembly on January 24 to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps.

"There is a change in the attitude in the United Nations toward Israel," said Shalom, speaking to reporters in Jerusalem.

"We're pleased, as this is the first time since the establishment of the UN that it is commemorating the Holocaust," said Shalom. "There is no more important arena for this than the United Nations."

He said that Israel has promised to keep the event apolitical. Still, he said, he believes that "the fact that 30 nations sponsored it and that 138 nations supported it speaks of the place that Israel holds within the world of nations." Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Russia were among the sponsoring nations.

It marks the first time an Israeli-sponsored initiative succeeded in the UN, said Shalom. "It is the last opportunity to do this while survivors are still alive," he said.

Ronny Leshno Yaar, the Foreign Ministry's deputy director-general for UN and international organizations, said he believes "it is a way for nations to say to Israel that despite our differences there are things that we can work on together; we are not automatically against you. I see this as a very important message."

Even some nations that usually do not support Israel, such as Pakistan, are standing with it on this session, he said.

The special session is the third instance in which the UN has shown its willingness recently to recognize anti-Semitism. A day-long seminar on the topic was held in June, and anti-Semitism was included in last year's annual UN resolution condemning religious intolerance.

Similarly, Leshno Yaar said, European countries have taken a strong stand against anti-Semitism and have in this instance separated it from their political views on the region.

The special session is the 28th such session held since the UN's inception.

The one-day event will include speeches by Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Holocaust survivor and Nobel peace laureate Elie Wiesel, a Vatican representative, Shalom and other foreign ministers. Other participants include former US president Bill Clinton.

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, is also organizing an exhibit for the event.