This past week, the Biden administration ratcheted up its pressure on Israel by abstaining from a vote on a United Nations General Assembly Resolution entitled, “Assistance to Palestinian Refugees,” which raised the canard of the “Right of Return.”
I could not help but think back to President Obama’s outrageous and shameful abstention from voting against Resolution 2334 on December 23, 2016, which stated that Israel’s “settlement activity” constitutes a “flagrant violation” of international law and has “no legal validity.”
Israel accused President Obama of secretly orchestrating the passage of the resolution as his parting shot, or as some have characterized it: as his “parting punch” against Israel.
During the Trump years, the United States defended Israel at every turn in the United Nations.
The Biden administration has made a concerted effort to return to the ways and policies of President Obama. Israel cannot rely on the United States to help them at the United Nations.
Richard Mills, US Deputy Representative to the United Nations, said, “We were pleased to see language included in several of the resolutions that reflect our priorities in line with strengthening UNRWA (UN Relief and Works Agency) for “Palestinian Refugees.” In other words, Israel was not their priority.
The resolutions call for the “Right of Return” for “Palestinian Refugees” to Israel, as well as for the receipt of compensation for property lost when they left their homes.
A resolution like this has only one focus and one goal: the elimination of the Jewish state. If the United Nations got its way, more than three million Arabs would flood Israel and make it impossible for the Jews living there. It would destroy Israel.
As of 2013, the State of Israel has been condemned in 45 Resolutions by the UNHRC (UN Human Rights Council) since its creation in 2006. It has resolved more resolutions condemning Israel alone than on all other issues combined.
Now let’s turn to the facts. Five Arab armies invaded Israel hours after it was established on May 14, 1948. Israel defended itself and won.
Had the Arabs accepted the 1947 UN Resolution calling for “partition,” not one so-called “refugee” would have been created.
More than 30,000 wealthy Arabs left Israel of their own volition months before their brethren invaded.
In Jaffa, Arab soldiers reportedly raped their own women and created tremendous chaos among the Arab population there. Many left as a result.
In Haifa, Aubrey Lippincott wrote that “local mufti-dominated Arab leaders were urging ‘all Arabs to leave the city’ and large numbers did so.”
Musa Alami, an Arab Nationalist, said about his fleeing brethren: “But there remained one solid hope: The Arab Armies were on the eve of their entry into Palestine to save the country and return things to their normal course, punish the aggressor, and throw oppressive Zionism with its dreams and dangers into the sea.”
The anti-Zionist Economist wrote on October 2, 1948: “It was clearly intimated that these Arabs who remained in Haifa and accepted Jewish protection would be regarded as renegades.”
The Arab National Committee in Jerusalem said on March 8, 1948: “Any opposition to this order [to vacate their homes] is an obstacle to the Holy War…and will hamper the operations of the fighters in those districts.”
The Secretary-General of the Arab League, Azande Pasha, assured the Arab Peoples “that the occupation of Palestine and Tel Aviv would be as simple as a military promenade.” In other words, it would be a “walk in the park.” (Please note how the words “occupation” and “Palestine” have been changed completely to mean polar opposites of their original meaning as defined by the Arab League. This is the height of hypocrisy.)
The Arab leaders are responsible for causing their own to leave Israel. This is clearly evident from just a few of the remarks I have quoted. In 1948, Israel – which at the time was known as Palestine – did not want to go to war. It had no choice. The Arabs had a choice. They chose to leave. Some chose to stay. They are thriving in Israel today.
It was inappropriate and wrong for the Biden administration to abstain on a vote that is based upon a heap of lies. To me, this constitutes a real betrayal of Israel at the United Nations.
Dr. Joe Frager is Chairman of the Israel Advocacy Commission for the Rabbinical Alliance of America; Chairman of the Executive Committee of American Friends of Ateret Cohanim; Dean at Kollel Ayshel Avraham; Executive Vice President of the Israel Heritage Foundation; and a physician in practice for 41 years.
