UN formally condemns Israel but stays mum on Hamas terrorist attacks: watchdog

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Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan: 'We need to act' against rise in antisemitism

The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations took a firm stance against the surge in antisemitism, insisting the ‘time for words has passed’ and that we must take action now to 'ensure that no Jew lives in fear.'

A United Nations watchdog has criticized the organization for passing multiple resolutions this week condemning Israel for various alleged human rights violations, but making no condemnation of Hamas or other groups or nations, at a time when antisemitism is on the rise.

"The U.N.’s assault on Israel with a torrent of one-sided resolutions, just one month after the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, and on the 85th anniversary of Kristallnacht, is surreal," Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, said in a press release. 

"The only purpose of these eight lopsided condemnations is to demonize the Jewish state," Neuer said. "The world should not be deceived that these annual resolutions advance the cause of peace or human rights in any way."

The U.N.’s Second Committee, which focuses on Economic and Financial issues, announced the passage of three such resolutions, including one demanding that Israel cease the "exploitation, damage, cause of loss or depletion and endangerment" in the Golan Heights region of Syria. 

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Syria drafted and co-sponsored the resolutions, which passed with a vote of 151 in favor to six against — only Canada, Israel, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and the U.S. opposed the measure, and 11 members abstained from voting. 

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador, Gilad Erdan, wears a yellow Star of David that reads "Never Again" in honor of those killed in the unprecedented attack by Hamas, which triggered an ongoing war, as he addresses members of the U.N. Security Council at United Nations headquarters in New York on Oct. 30. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

"These are Arab lands," the representative of Syria said after the vote. "They will return to their original legitimate owners sooner or later." 

An Amnesty International report for 2022/23 on human rights abuses and violations around the world noted that "economic and social conditions deteriorated" in Syria even as active hostilities have decreased, with parties committing "gross" human rights abuses "with impunity," including "war crimes." 

EMPLOYEES AT US-FUNDED UNITED NATIONS AGENCY CELEBRATED HAMAS TERROR MASSACRE: REPORT

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a statement at United Nations headquarters in New York on the situation in the Middle East following the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Neuer called the Syrian-backed resolution "obscene," adding that it is "astonishing" that the U.N. would support a call for "more people to be handed over" to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which has killed "half a million of its own people." 

"The text is morally galling and logically absurd," Neuer said in a strong rebuke of the U.N., noting that Assad’s forces have killed "more than 3,000 Palestinians" in its conflicts. 

Permanent Representative of Syria Bassam Sabbagh attends a Security Council meeting at United Nations headquarters in New York. (Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

"Today’s farce at the General Assembly underscores a simple fact: the U.N.’s automatic majority has no interest in truly helping Palestinians, nor in protecting anyone’s human rights; the goal of these ritual, one-sided condemnations is to scapegoat Israel," said Neuer.

The U.N. did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment on the resolutions. 

Split image of Hamas terrorists with civilian body bags. (Yousef Masoud/Majority World/Universal Images Group | Amir Levy/Getty Images)

OUTGOING SENIOR UN OFFICIAL CALLS FOR ONE-STATE SOLUTION, SLAMS US, ISRAEL: ‘CHILLING WORDS’

Anne Bayefsky, director of the Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust at Touro University, accused the U.N. of advancing Hamas' interests by targeting Israel with these resolutions and shifting blame for the current conflict onto Israel. 

Flags fly in front of the United Nations headquarters during the UN General Assembly in New York. (Michael Kappeler/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Bayefsky accused these resolutions of advancing "blood libel," which refers to false accusations of Jews inciting violence to justify antisemitic responses. 

"The statements across the board from the U.N.'s highest officers and so-called "human rights" experts have specific characteristics," Bayefsky alleged. "They issue slanderous, unverified blood libels; they blame Israel for the genocide against Jews; they exhibit an obscene moral equivalence between a terrorist organization and a democratic state seeking to defend itself; and, most significantly, they deny the Jewish state the U.N. Charter right of self-defense."

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi addresses the 78th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City on Sept. 19.  (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

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"The degree of disconnect between the U.N. and human decency is perhaps best exemplified by the repeated call for ‘both sides’ or ‘all parties’ to adhere to International law, when one party — Hamas — exists to violate international law, and the other side is doing everything possible to adhere to international law despite all the obstacles placed in their way by Palestinian terrorists themselves," she added.