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Australia’s changed votes at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly

4 December 2018

The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry has commended the Aus­trali­an gov­ern­ment for voting against three major res­ol­u­tions cri­ti­cising Israel at the 73^rd session of the UN General Assembly on 30 November 2018, after having abstained on those same res­ol­u­tions in previous years.

The res­ol­u­tions on which Australia changed to a “No” vote related to “Jerusalem”, “The Syrian Golan” and “Peaceful set­tle­ment of the Question of Palestine”.

The ECAJ also noted with approval that, as it has in past years, Australia voted against a further three res­ol­u­tions relating to the bur­eau­crat­ic insti­tu­tions within the UN which are ostens­ibly dedicated to “Palestini­an rights”.

ECAJ co-CEO Peter Wertheim welcomed Australia’s “No” vote on the Jerusalem res­ol­u­tion, which denies Israeli sov­er­eignty over “the Holy City”. “Australia pre­vi­ously either voted in support of the res­ol­u­tion or abstained”, he said. “Voting “No” for the first time has sent a message that Australia will not go along with attempts by the UN to air-brush the 3000-year long con­nec­tion of the Jewish people with Jerusalem out of history”.

Wertheim also praised Australia’s changed vote on “The Syrian Golan”. “Each previous year Australia abstained on this res­ol­u­tion. By voting “No”, Australia is in effect acknow­ledging that the pre-1967 lines on the Golan were never an inter­na­tion­al border and, Syrian claims not­with­stand­ing, are not sac­rosanct. Although this issue does not have the same immediacy as Jerusalem, it may well be of sig­ni­fic­ance at some future time”.

Wertheim described the res­ol­u­tion on the “Peaceful set­tle­ment of the Question of Palestine” as having “a seemingly innocuous title”, but cri­ti­cised its text as “one-sided and non-recip­roc­al”. “It makes demands only of Israel, and demands nothing of the Palestini­an lead­er­ship. This only serves to reward and encourage the Palestini­ans’ non-com­pli­ance with previous agree­ments and their refusal to return to nego­ti­ations. Australia voted “No” to this res­ol­u­tion between 2005 and 2010 under both Coalition and Labor gov­ern­ments, before changing its vote to “Abstain”. Australia’s return to a negative vote on this res­ol­u­tion is soundly-based”.

Wertheim said he was “unfazed” by the fact that all of these res­ol­u­tions were passed by very large major­it­ies. “Australia’s longest-serving Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said that just because you are in the minority it doesn’t mean you are wrong. Populism is often nonsense”.

Wertheim added that he was looking forward to Australia voting to support a US-backed res­ol­u­tion con­demning Hamas in the UN on Thursday.

“Taken together”, Wertheim said “Australia’s votes on these res­ol­u­tions send a clear message to the UN that the Aus­trali­an gov­ern­ment will not be a part of the annual ritual whereby the dic­tat­or­ships and semi-dic­tat­or­ships who comprise the majority of UN member states sit in judgement against the only liberal democracy in the Middle East. By focusing repet­it­ively and dis­pro­por­tion­ately on Israel, the res­ol­u­tions effect­ively give a leave pass to the intransigence and extremism of the other actors in the region which remain hostile to Israel’s very existence”.

“Such an approach has demon­strated its futility many times”, Wertheim continued. “It has hardened public opinion among both Israelis and Palestini­ans against making the painful con­ces­sions that peace will ulti­mately require from both sides, and achieving a just and lasting res­ol­u­tion of the conflict based on the principle of two States for two peoples – Israel as the State of the Jewish people living in peace side by side with a Palestini­an State”.

Contact
Peter Wertheim AM | co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au