November 10, 1975 was a very telling moment regarding the United Nations’ — and the international community’s — stance on Israel.
Twenty-five states sponsored Resolution 3379, which “determine[d] that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.” Seventy-two states voted in favor, 32 abstained and 35 were against the motion. The resolution referenced the 1963 UN Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; the 1973 resolution condemning “the unholy alliance between South African racism and Zionism;” and the August 1975 Conference for Foreign Affairs of Non-Aligned Countries, which called Zionism “a threat to world peace and security,” and urged world capitals “to oppose this racist and imperialist ideology.”
Prior to the vote, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Chaim Herzog told the General Assembly:
I can point with pride to the Arab ministers who have served in my government; to the Arab deputy speaker of my Parliament; to Arab officers and men serving of their own volition in our border and police defense forces, frequently commanding Jewish troops; to the hundreds of thousands of Arabs from all over the Middle East crowding the cities of Israel every year; to the thousands of Arabs from all over the Middle East coming for medical treatment to Israel; to the peaceful coexistence which has developed; to the fact that Arabic is an official language in Israel on a par with Hebrew; to the fact that it is as natural for an Arab to serve in public office in Israel as it is incongruous to think of a Jew serving in any public office in an Arab country, indeed being admitted to many of them. Is that racism? It is not! That … is Zionism.
Herzog then pulled out a copy of the text of the resolution, held it up, and declared: “For us, the Jewish people, this resolution based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance, is devoid of any moral or legal value. For us, the Jewish people, this is no more than a piece of paper and we shall treat it as such.”
Herzog then tore the document in half.
For his part, US Ambassador to the UN Daniel Patrick Moynihan called the resolution “a great evil” and labeled it as outright antisemitism in one of the greatest pieces of oratory heard at the UN.
As this day will live in infamy, it behooves those who sought to avert it to declare their thoughts so that historians will know that we fought here, that we were not small in number — not this time — and that while we lost, we fought with full knowledge of what indeed would be lost.
The Ambassador concluded his speech saying:
The United States rises to declare before the General Assembly of the United Nations, and before the world, that it does not acknowledge, it will not abide by, it will never acquiesce in this infamous act.
1991: Revoking ‘Zionism is Racism’…Sort of
To its credit, on December 16, 1991, the UN voted to repeal the resolution — but only after Israel agreed to engage the Palestine Liberation Organization at the Madrid Peace Conference. The resolution to repeal the 1975 declaration was sponsored by 90 states, with 111 nations voting in favor. Meanwhile, thirteen states abstained and 25 voted against it. Notably, the resolution that was adopted did not outright debunk the notion that Zionism is racist, but, rather, simply said: “The General Assembly decides to revoke the determination contained in its resolution 3379 of 10 November 1975.”
The repeal was made possible largely because of the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s. The USSR had spearheaded the original resolution, as it sought to score points with Arab countries while harming the standing of the United States. Indeed, all of the countries in the former Soviet bloc, including newly created Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, voted in favor of the repeal.
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But the development also demonstrated the diplomatic progress that Israel had made in just over 15 years. African and Asian countries such as Nigeria, India, the Philippines and Singapore, which supported the 1975 resolution, switched sides. Brazil and Mexico also changed their original anti-Israel vote.
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Hardliners such as Khalil Makkawi, the former ambassador from Lebanon who spoke on behalf of Arab nations, suggested that the repeal vote was a gift to the “Israeli extremists wishing to pursue their policy of creeping annexation,” and insisted that it would “fuel the passions” of Arabs “who believe the whole peace process is an exercise in futility that gives Israel more time to expand and achieve its revisionist Zionist project.”
The UN General Assembly president, Saudi Arabian diplomat Samir S. Shihabi, refused to preside over the proceedings, despite being present for the session.
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Middle East Sands Start to Shift
However, the event demonstrated — and in some cases foreshadowed — shifting attitudes of some Arab countries towards Israel.
For example, while no Arab states voted in favor of the repeal, it is significant to note that representatives from Egypt, Oman, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia and Bahrain did not attend the 1991 vote.
And even though the repeal did not formally describe Zionism as a legitimate movement of the Jewish people to establish and secure its own state in its ancestral homeland, it was celebrated by Israel as a major step forward in its effort to gain greater international acceptance.
In perhaps the greatest proof of how far Israel has come and the hope that the region is headed toward more peaceful times, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan voted in favor of the “Zionism is racism” resolution in 1975 and voted against the repeal in 1991, but have now decided to engage in full diplomatic relations with Israel.
There can be no greater statement in support of the Jewish state than Zionism is NOT racism.
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Feature image credit: UN Photo/Michos Tzovaras
