A year ago the Canadian government vowed to change its voting pattern on the myriad of politicized anti-Israeli resolutions passed every year at the UN General Assembly. Last week, Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin told delegates at the United Jewish Communities General Assembly that Canada would “eliminate the politicization of the United Nations and its agencies and in particular the annual ritual of politicized anti-Israel resolutions!”
B’nai Brith Canada released today a compilation of Canada’s voting patterns on these resolutions for the last three years. As noted by the Canadian Coalition for Demorcracies President Alastair Gordon last week, Canada’s voting record simply puts to the lie Paul Martin’s vow not to join this shameful mascarade and the failed states which stage it every year.
| Resolution | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | ||
| 1. | Assistance to Palestine refugees While giving special recognition to “Palestinian refugees”, the resolution ignores the historical fact that a Jewish refugee question was created simultaneously when Jews were expelled or fled out of fear from neighboring Arab and Muslim countries, primarily in the post-1948 period. | Yes | Yes | Yes | No Change |
| 2. | Persons Displaced as a Result of the June 1967 and Subsequent Hostilities Inherent in the resolution is the suggestion that Israel was the aggressor in the 1967 war. Completely absent is the historical fact that Israel’s neighboring Arab states launched the war, forcing Israel to defend itself against the Arab onslaught of invading armies. | Yes | Yes | Yes | No Change |
| 3. | Operations of UNRWA By not recognizing Israel’s right to self defence – especially in light of allegations that UNRWA has aided and abetted terrorists – the resolution effectively delegitimizes the Jewish state and the right of its citizens to live in safe and secure borders. | Yes | Yes | Yes | No Change |
| 4. | Palestine Refugees’ Properties and their Revenues The resolution reaffirms to the “entitlement” of “Palestinian refugees” to property and income left behind in 1948. The same principle is not being applied to Jewish refugees as a result of the 1948 war. | Yes | Yes | Yes | No Change |
| 5. | Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices By its very mandate, the “Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices” adopts an inherently one-sided approach to the conflict. A double standard is employed which examines “Israeli practices” while never examining Palestinian practices. | Abstain | No | No | Change |
| 6. | Applicability of the Geneva Conventions The resolution employs a double standard by demanding that Israel adhere to its international obligations, but never once demanding the very same from any other party in the region. | Yes | Yes | Yes | No Change |
| 7. | Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and the Occupied Syrian Golan This resolution holds Israel solely accountable for signed agreements. There are no similar such requirements on the Palestinians, including their repeated promises to cease their violence and incitement. | Yes | Yes | Yes | No Change |
| 8. | Israeli Practices Affecting the Human rights of thePalestinian People The resolution speaks of “the continuing systemic violations of the human rights of the Palestinian people by Israel”, without once placing into context current realities in which Israeli civilians continue to be targeted by Palestinian terrorists, thus denying Israel and the Jewish people basic rights to security and freedom. | Abstain | Abstain | Abstain | No Change |
| 9. | The Occupied Syrian Golan A double standard is at work which characterizes Israel as the belligerent party, when in fact it was Syria, along with fellow Arab nations, which launched the war in 1967. | Yes | Yes | Yes | No Change |