Well, I never thought I’d live to see the day when this would happen: The United Nations has unanimously declared an international Holocaust Day in commemoration of the Holocaust and as a stand against antisemitism and genocide:
The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday unanimously approved a proposal to set January 27 as the “International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.” The decision was made at the end of a special General Assembly session that began at UN headquarters in New York on Monday.
[ . . . ]
It also rejects any denial of the Holocaust, condemns discrimination and violence based on religion or ethnicity, and calls for the UN to establish an outreach program to encourage the public to engage in Holocaust remembrance activities.
The resolution, introduced Monday, was sponsored initially by Israel, the United States, Australia, Canada and Russia. Since the draft resolution was distributed for the first time in August, 91 UN member nations have added their names, including eight Muslim countries and several countries in Africa and South America.
Of course, we can’t expect an unconditional condemnation of atrocities against Jews from the United Nations:
Jordan’s UN Ambassador Prince Zeid al-Hussein called the Holocaust “a crime of the most colossal proportions” that was inflicted on European soil by Europeans against Europeans.
But he said it should not be used as a moral justification for the “continued domination of one people by another,” an obvious reference to Israel and the Palestinians.
That much is to be expected, but I find it amazing that so many Muslim countries actually passed the resolution in the first place.
So is this the UN’s “pound of flesh” that they can point to – an easy way to claim to be against antisemitism each time it condemns Israel for some pointless double-standard in the future? Or is the sentiment genuine?
Oh well… Whatever it is, it’s a step in the right direction.
Your close but don’t quite have it right Sari. The UN is in a heap of trouble with all the scandals and the years of actions that are totally contrary to its supposed goals. The US Congress and US people are fed up and are close to taking unilateral action such as cutting off all funding, which constitutes 22.5% of their budget. This resolution throws a bone to pacify the UN detractors without really reforming the UN in any substantial way. Frankly in my opinion they can keep their resolution without real change the resolution is as worthless as the UN that passed it.
The point is this: it was a resolution introduced by Israel that passed in the UN. You can’t tell me that’s insignificant, no matter how irrelevant the UN has become lately (and on that I agree with you).
bwas1
“without really reforming the UN in any substantial way”
I like the UN the way it is, ineffectual and irrelevant.
Careful what you wish for…
Yeah, I’ll go with Jonny. Unfortunately I don’t agree with the idea of a UN (even if its most powerful body, the security council, was not so biased in its composition). We need a UW, United World, where human beings can by-pass national leaders and so-called citizenship (lets not forget the right denied to Palestinians). But how would this UW be composed. We can’t have 6 billion people convening on every matter. The model we have is the fruit of a time that is ending. Hopefully democracy and its ideals will not pass with it.
Tre,
A model like that sounds ideal, but would probably end up looking more like something out a George Orwell book.
Yeah, I realize. That doesn`t mean we should stop thinking about alternatives. Eventually, a feasible more democratic model might come out of that process.
Tre, didn’t they teach you in Concordia that if you keep on repeating the same lies over and over again, that it doesn’t make it true?
Here comes Cliff outta nowhere wid` notin’ to say agin’.
I did learn that at Concordia, from listening to the Hilleniks repeat themselves ad-nauseum.
Nani nani boo boo.
Sari, my apologies, I`ll return later when the level of discussion has passed grade school. Course with Dan and Cliff around, that`s not likely to happen.
Have a good weekend – mine starts now!
“Nani nani boo boo.” ….Well that was special, Tre.
Dan & Cliff, go sit in the corner…heheh
tre, do you own this discussion or this blog? Yes tre, please ‘return’..and if you do, maybe you should apologize to all of us here for all your blatent lies you spread tre.Enjoy your weekend on your very own personal ‘pitypot’ tre! We see through you.
Over at Damian’s http://www.damianpenny.com/
this popped up. Talk about perfect timing!
http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen200511020857.asp