The Biden administration ratcheted up its pressure on Israel on Nov. 9, when it abstained from a vote on a U.N. General Assembly resolution titled “Assistance to Palestinian Refugees,” which raised the canard of the “right of return.”
This brought to mind former President Barack Obama’s shameful abstention from voting against U.N. Security Council Resolution 2334, on Dec. 23, 2016, which stated that Israel’s “settlement activity” constitutes a “flagrant violation” of international law and has “no legal validity.”
Israel accused him of secretly orchestrating the passage of the resolution as his parting shot, or—as some have characterized it—his “parting punch” against Israel.
During the tenure of former President Donald Trump, America defended Israel at every turn at the United Nations.
The Biden administration has made a concerted effort to return to the ways and policies of Obama. Today, thus, Israel can no longer rely on America at the United Nations.
U.S. Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Richard Mills said, “We were pleased to see language included in several of the resolutions that reflect our priorities in line with strengthening UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees).” In other words, Israel was not America’s 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 Arabs left their homes.
Such resolutions have only one focus and one goal: the elimination of the Jewish state. If the United Nations were to have its way, more than 3 million Arabs would flood Israel and make it impossible for the Jews living there.
As of 2013, the State of Israel had been condemned in 45 resolutions by the U.N. Human Rights Council since its creation in 2006. It has passed more resolutions condemning Israel than on all others 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 U.N. resolution calling for “partition,” not one so-called “refugee” would have been created.
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 population. Many left as a result.
In Haifa, as American Consul Aubrey Lippincott wrote, “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 Economist wrote on Oct. 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, a “walk in the park.” (Note how the words “occupation” and “Palestine” have been changed completely to mean the polar opposite of their original definition by the Arab League; this is the height of hypocrisy.)
The Arab leaders are responsible for causing their people to leave Israel. This is evident from just a few of the remarks I have quoted.
In 1948, Israel, which was known at the time 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 on a heap of lies. This constitutes a real betrayal of Israel.
Dr. Joseph Frager is first vice president of the National Council of Young Israel.
