Extra, Extra, Read All About It! The UN’s Arab Coalition Nominates “Palestine” for the United Nations General Assembly Presidency

If the UN was not routinely acting in a manner that suggested that promoting antisemitism was high up on its agenda, this latest episode would almost seem comical. Apparently, having no right to vote on matters within the General Assembly, nor even the right to nominate themselves for the office, the Palestinian Authority does have the right to be nominated by a member with full rights. It is akin to winning a Nobel before doing anything to earn it.

The United Nations was organized 80 years ago to take the place of the League of Nations that failed miserably in its mission: A cessation of war, peace on earth, and conflict settled through just negotiation. Originally 56 members, the “winners” of WWII (many declared war against Nazi Germany as the war was ending to ensure membership), the UN has expanded to 193 voting members and 2 non-voting observer “states”: the Vatican and the Palestinian Authority. Full membership requires the acquiescence of the Security Council.

The United Nations General Assembly is a strange democratic institution. Each voting member has one vote. India, with a population of 1.4 billion people, is equal to Iceland with 364 thousand people. In the 15-member Security Council, if India and Iceland are on the list of the 10 rotating members, that same rule applies. However, only the permanent five members: China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, and the United States have an exclusive right to veto any resolution, even if 14 members vote for the resolution. France, with 60 million people, is equal to China with 1.4 billion people.

The General Assembly, unlike the Security Council, has very little power. Its resolutions for the most part, are non-binding. In grave emergencies, it can act if the Security Council refuses to do so or is being blocked by a veto from doing so, but this is exceptionally rare. The general Assembly’s power is in its supposed morality in the name of the welfare of the people of Earth. That supposed morality ended 50 years ago. The clearest indication of the death of morality in the UN was the 1975 Soviet Union sponsored resolution declaring Zionism to be a form of racism. If that were not enough proof, the 2001 UNGA sponsored World Conference against Racism, that became a celebration of antisemitism, put the final nail in the coffin wherein morality was laid to rest.

Electing the Palestinian Authority representative to the presidency of the General Assembly brings to mind Henrik Ibsen’s play Enemy of the People. The town doctor discovers that the famous spa, half the economy of the town, is making people sick. It turns out that the tannery (owned by his father-in-law), the other half of the economy, is polluting the spa’s water. As this is during the 1800s when technology to fix either is not yet developed, he tries to get them shut down the businesses until the water clears and the tannery finds a safe place to dispose of its wastewater.

He organizes a town meeting to discuss his findings and recommendations. At the meeting (and here you have to suspend your sense of disbelief) the mayor takes over and says for the meeting to be legal, they must vote on a chairman, a committee and rules. Incredibly, the doctor agrees. The mayor is voted chairman, the committee is selected, and the committee votes to deny the doctor the opportunity to speak and declares the doctor to be – the enemy of the people. The meeting ends and everyone leaves.

In 1974 the General Assembly voted, 91 to 22, to uphold a ruling by the Assembly’s president, Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria, suspending South Africa’s participation, meaning they couldn’t vote, speak, or make proposals. South Africa was reinstated when Apartheid ended in 1994. With the Palestinian Authority representative, as president of the General Assembly, try to get Israel suspended? No need to suspend your sense of disbelief.

Sometimes the snow comes down in June.
Sometimes the sun goes ’round the moon.
Just when I thought the worst was done,
the UNGA proved me wrong.

Now we’re staring into space,
Isn’t this world a crazy place?
Just when I thought the worst had passed,
The UNGA saved the worst for last (Apologies to Vanessa Williams and the writers).