Eight things to know about the UNGA condemnation of Israel in 2020

• Date: 29 December 2020
• Published date: 29 December 2020
• Author: TOVAH LAZAROFF
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

To put this number in perspective, the UNGA approved only six country-specific resolutions for human rights situations in the rest of the world.

When speaking of UN bias on Israel, focus is often on Geneva or Paris.

The former is the seat of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and the latter hosts the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

But it's the UN in New York, particularly the General Assembly, that often generates the most activity.

Countries that support Israel by voting with it or abstaining at the UNHRC or UNESCO, do not necessarily follow that trend in New York.

Resolutions with language neutralized in Geneva or Paris, such as ignoring Jewish ties to Jerusalem's Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif, are still approved by the UNGA.

The Trump administration's strong advocacy on behalf of the Jewish state at the UN, combined with the work of Israel's Foreign Ministry, former ambassador Danny Danon and the current Ambassador Gilad Erdan were not able to stem the tide of anti-Israel sentiment, but they have been able to diminish it slightly.

Here are eight things to know about these texts.

1. Number of anti-Israel resolutions dropped

There were 17 texts pro-Palestinian or anti-Israeli resolutions approved this year, down from 18 last year and 21 in 2018. This does not reflect a change in attitude toward Israel. Rather, it is a testament of success of the Israeli argument that there are too many resolutions against Israel with redundant texts.

Of the 17 texts, only 13 dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One called for Israel to give up its undeclared nuclear weapons. A second spoke of Israeli culpability in a 2006 oil spill along the Lebanese shore. Two others call for Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights, which it captured from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day war and on which it applied sovereignty in 1981. The Trump administration has recognized that sovereignty.

Among those on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, only three specifically deal with Israeli actions against the Palestinians.

Others deal with Palestinian sovereignty and financial assistance to the Palestinians. One affirms the work of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees and four others affirm the work of pro-Palestinian committees at the UN.

All the pro-Palestinian resolutions operate out of the context that Israel "occupies" the territory over the pre-1967 lines and that it must withdraw from that territory.

2...