Israel and the United Nations. United Nations states that Israeli children are not afforded the same human rights as Palestinian children.
United Nations: All Children Are Not Equal

By INA and COP/JCenter

Israel Withdraws UN Resolution on Protecting Jewish Children from Terrorism

New York----November 27......Israel withdrew a UN resolution on protecting Israeli children from terrorism Wednesday, after amendments proposed by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and others would have substituted "Middle East" for "Israeli" children and inserted language condemning "foreign occupation," thus subverting its purpose and shifting its focus. The resolution was meant to mirror one adopted last week by 88-4 with 58 abstentions demanding protection for Palestinian children. (Reuters)

Response of United Nations Ambassador Dan Gillerman
 November 27, 2003

Israel withdraws its draft resolution and will not ask for it to be voted upon. We do so after the Egyptian delegation together with a number of other delegations have proposed hostile amendments to this resolution and have worked to ensure that its focus and intent has been perverted.

Israel presented its draft resolution only after the resolution on Palestinian children was presented to, and adopted by, the Committee. We would have preferred that no group of children be singled out. But once the plight of Palestinian children has been reserved for special attention, Israeli children certainly deserve no less.

In presenting this resolution, we presented a challenge before member states: could they avoid the selective treatment of Israel that so often plagues the UN and, at least on the issue of children, demonstrate the same sense of sympathy and compassion for Israeli children that has already been offered to Palestinian children? Those delegations that proposed these hostile changes, and those that quietly supported and tolerated them, have given their answer.

Perhaps someone can explain to me why the hundreds of Israeli children killed or maimed in brutal terrorist attacks deserve less sympathy and attention. A resolution that expressly recognizes that Israeli children are also suffering would contradict a worldview that Israelis are the villain, never the victim; that Israelis have responsibilities but no rights; and that the Palestinians have rights but no responsibilities.

The delegations that have opposed Israel's resolution at every turn and sponsored the proposed changes have demonstrated the shameless double standard that animates their conduct at the UN. These same delegations have for years used their numbers and their audacity to dictate their own blinkered worldview on the UN agenda as if the UN were their private property.

As long as this state of affairs is tolerated and appeased rather than forcefully confronted, no one should wonder why the credibility and relevance of the UN, and its role as a Quartet member, is sometimes questioned.

Israel Withdraws UN Resolution

By Melissa Radler
November 26, 2003

At the United Nations, the lives of Israeli children are worth less than the lives of Palestinian children, Israel's ambassador to the UN Dan Gillerman said Wednesday after he was forced to withdraw a resolution calling for the protection of Israeli children from terrorism.

"The voice of the immoral majority was once again heard loud and clear," Gillerman told the UN General Assembly's Third (Humanitarian, Social and Cultural) Committee after failing to garner enough support from the organization's 191 members to proceed with a vote.

On Nov. 6, the same committee adopted a similar resolution calling for the protection of Palestinian children from Israeli aggression by a vote of 88 to 4 with 58 abstentions.

The Israeli draft, the Jewish state's first at the UN since 1976, was introduced earlier this month in response to numerous terrorist attacks that have targeted Israeli children, including a bombing at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa on Oct. 4 that killed 21 people, among them four children.

Gillerman withdrew the draft after a group of states from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), led by Egypt, demanded the inclusion of amendments that, if adopted, would have turned the draft into an anti-Israel resolution.

The list of amendments, cosponsored by Bahrain, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, included deleting of the phrase "Israeli children" from the text and replacing it with "Middle East children," and inserting references to Israeli "military assaults," "occupation" and ""excessive use of force" ahead of all mention of terrorism. Even the title of the draft was changed from "The situation of and assistance to Israeli children" to "The situation of and assistance to children in the Middle East region."

"It's shameful that Egypt, which has a peace treaty with Israel, sabotaged this resolution," said Gillerman. Had Israel not withdrawn the resolution, inclusion of the amendments was virtually assured due to the NAM's majority status at the UN.

The international community's failure to come out in favor of the resolution "makes it very clear that the UN General Assembly is an unreliable and biased body with no international integrity. The message sent today by the UN Third Committee to Israeli children is that your lives are worth less than Palestinian children," said Gillerman.

Israel withdraws resolution condemning violence against Israeli children

By Barbara Borst
Associated Press
 November 26, 2003

Israel's U.N. ambassador withdrew a draft resolution Wednesday that called for the protection of Israeli children from terrorism, angered by Egyptian-led effort to modify the proposal.

The Israeli measure also sought a general condemnation of terrorism and demanded that the Palestinian Authority join in fighting the growing scourge.

At a news conference after withdrawing the draft from a General Assembly committee, Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman he called it "a shameful day for the United Nations, a sad day for humanity."

The resolution was the first that Israel has introduced since 1976. Gillerman called it called it part of a new, "pro-active" approach by his government to the many resolutions supporting the Palestinians that the General Assembly passes each year.

Gillerman said Israel's proposal was meant to mirror a resolution the committee approved earlier this month demanding that Israel ensure the protection of Palestinian children. That measure passed by a vote of 88-4, with 58 abstentions.

Amendments supported by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Senegal, South Africa and others to the Israeli draft would have replaced references to "Israeli children" with the words "children in the Middle East region." They also would have added passages condemning "foreign occupation, violations of international law," "military assaults, excessive use of force" and other objections that Palestinians often raise to Israeli conduct in the occupied territories.

Nasser Al-Kidwa, the Palestinian U.N. observer, said he thought it was a mistake for Israel to have introduced the draft resolution and "an attempt to abuse the title 'children' for political goals."

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