US anti-Semitism envoy slams UN ‘double standards’ on Israel

[shira]

Hannah Rosenthal, who heads the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, was speaking at the Community Security Trust (CST) annual dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in central London on Thursday night.

She told guests, including MPs, diplomats, policy advisors and community leaders, that the American administration “felt it important for the US to deploy our stature and moral authority to strengthen and hold violators accountable,” adding that it will pressure the council to fulfill its mandate, and would challenge it when necessary.

...

“Looking at UN statistics over the last six years, where there have been negative remarks against a country, 170 have been against Israel. Compare that to North Korea that had eight... Israel has had 50 resolutions condemning alleged human rights abuses. Compare that to the Sudan which has had five. Clearly Israel is being held to a different standard and that means it has crossed the line from anti-Israel policy to profound anti-Semitism,” she said to enthusiastic applause.

“We will continue to see that Israel is treated fairly at the UN and in other international bodies,” Rosenthal said.

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http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=170435

[kayecy]

1. Does Israel claim to be a western democracy or a failed state?

We all know what human rights are like in failed states like North Korea and the Sudan, and complaining does no good at all.....Yes we hold Israel to different standards - to western democratic standards....Is that 'profound anti-Semitism'?
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Hannah Rosenthal would do better to compare the US's attempts to improve the lives of Afghan civilians with the IDF's collective punishment of Palestinian civilians.
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[oberliner]

3. The UN does not hold countries to "western democratic standards"

The UN ought to have a responsibility to address human rights violations among all its member states regardless of whether or not they purport to adhere to "western democratic standards."

[Donald Ian Rankin]

4. The UN does not hold countries to standards full stop.

It's an entirely toothless dog - which, given that Russia and China have permanent seats on the security council, is a good thing.

Yes, it is more critical of Israel than of some other countries with comparable or worse human rights records. However, since both the criticism and the lack thereof achieve precisely nothing, this doesn't matter very much.

[kayecy]

8. But is it anti-Semitic?

Agreed, the UN is far from perfect, but US one-sided support of Israel is a more likely cause of the preponderance of anti-Israel UN motions than anti-Semitism.

Is NOT wasting UN time condemning North Korea anti-Semitic?
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[ncguy]

5. I see where you are going

but I'm not sure we can hold up treatment of civilians in Afganistan as a great example.

[LeftishBrit]

6. While I hold no brief for the collective punishment of Palestinians...

I do wonder whether an Afghan civilian would agree with your post?!

[kayecy]

9. Do you really think Afghans are subject collective punishment?

Do you really think Afghans are subject collective punishment by the US Army?...Their 'collateral' killing of civilians may be of a similar order to that of the IDF, but no one really doubts that the US Army is at least trying to improve the lot of the Afghans which is more than can be said of the IDF.

Do the IDF make any attempt to 'pay' for their collateral damage with aid to the Palestinian civilians?

I believe it is high time we had an international debate on how much 'collateral' killing of civilians it is acceptable during military actions before it constitutes a war crime.
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[Donald Ian Rankin]

2. The US applies a more important double standard in the opposite direction.

While it's entirely true that the UN pays more attention to Israeli human rights abuses than those of other countries, and probably true that this is at least partly due to double standards rather than the fact that Israel claims to be a first-world democracy, this has very little effect on anything.

By contrast, the US supplies Israel with 4 times as much aid per capita as any other country, not to mention military and intelligence cooperation, despite its relative prosperity and poor human rights record. This is a clear and obvious double standard that has an immense effect on the plight of the Palestinians.

[frylock]

7. unrec