Divine Consequences: UN To Push For Palestinian State In 2025

An Israeli diplomat accused the United Nations of fixation on anti-Israel resolutions brought by the world's worst human-rights abusers just hours before the General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a resolution approving a high-level conference in support of the two-state solution.

On Tuesday, the General Assembly voted by a 157-8 margin, with seven abstentions, in favor of holding a conference in June 2025 aimed at adopting "an action-oriented outcome document" to "urgently chart an irreversible pathway towards the peaceful settlement" of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the implementation of a Palestinian state.

Argentina, Hungary, Israel, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea and the United States voted no. Cameroon, Czechia, Ecuador, Georgia, Paraguay, Ukraine and Uruguay abstained.

The text of the conference was annexed to a seven-page resolution condemning Israeli community-building beyond the so-called Green Line, and into eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria. It also rejects any demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip and urges a Palestinian state to be formed along the 1949 armistice lines. 

The Australian government, under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, continued to break from its long-held positions on the conflict, voting in favor of the resolution and increasing tensions between Jerusalem and Canberra. Australia has voted no or abstained on matters of Palestinian statehood since 2001.

"A two-state solution remains the only hope of breaking the endless cycle of violence--the only hope to see a secure and prosperous future for both peoples," James Larsen, Australia's U.N. ambassador, said before the vote.

Just a day earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar summoned Australian Ambassador Ralph King for a formal reprimand, dressing him down for Australia's refusal to issue a visa to Ayelet Shaked, a former Israeli minister.

Sa'ar told King that the decision was "based on baseless blood libels spread by the pro-Palestinian lobby" and was contrary to the values of democracy, free speech and friendship shared by the two countries.

Australia denied the visa on the grounds that Shaked could undermine social cohesion because of her history of anti-Palestinian rhetoric.

Canada, long an ally of Israel at the United Nations, continued its backpedaling under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"The dynamics in the broader region show very clearly that conflict management, as opposed to genuine conflict resolution, is not, in fact, a sustainable path to peace, security and prosperity," Bob Rae, Canada's ambassador to the United Nations, said on Wednesday before the vote.

Rae conceded that the resolution should have struck a more balanced tone, but Ottawa is focusing on the viability of a Palestinian state. The ruling Liberals had voted against similar resolutions for nearly a decade.

Hungary was the only European country that voted with Israel.

'Laid bare for all to see'

Reut Shapir Ben-Naftaly, the Israeli U.N. mission's political coordinator, chided the General Assembly on Tuesday for its debate and planned adoptions of multiple resolutions this week based on a "reckless disregard for the truth."

She said that the Hamas-led massacre of 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which sparked the current regional crisis, "laid bare for all to see" the world body's "entrenched anti-Israeli bias."

She said the terrorist attacks on Jewish communities, including murder, rape, torture and hostage-taking, remain insufficiently addressed by the United Nations while it takes up resolutions from the likes of Cuba, North Korea, Syria and Venezuela.

If these actors "were truly interested in bringing solutions to the war-torn region, they would abandon their obsessive efforts to delegitimize Israel," said Ben-Naftaly, and instead focus on freeing the hostages, ending Hamas's rule in Gaza and halting the widespread looting by the terror group of humanitarian aid meant for Palestinians in the Strip.

"Hamas abuses U.N. funds to sustain their terrorist activities--a fact that goes unmentioned in the reports and resolutions debated this week in these halls," said Ben-Naftali, urging the United Nations to hold Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and other terror organizations responsible for the region's chaos and destruction.

The high-level conference included in the resolution is scheduled to be held in New York, co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia.

French President Emmanuel Macron, speaking on Tuesday during a visit to Saudi Arabia, said that France will recognize a Palestinian state but only "at a useful moment."

He expressed hope that the summit would also include discussions about taking into account Israel's security.

The General Assembly on Tuesday adopted resolutions demanding Israel's withdrawal from the Golan Heights and providing resources to the U.N. Division for Palestinian Rights, which oversees the organizing of meetings and conferences promoting boycotts, sanctions and delegitimization of Israel.

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