Whose lives are more important? Those of Israeli children or Palestinian children?
Unfortunately, some Jews may make a choice too easily, but our hope is that most readers will agree that no child deserves to die.
Nevertheless, Israel has prompted that question at the United Nations — for good reason.
Israel introduced a resolution on Monday calling for the protection of Israeli children victimized by Palestinian terror. Earlier last week, Egypt introduced a similar resolution on the plight of Palestinian children affected by the three-year intifada. Not only are both resolutions almost identically worded but they also cite the same U.N. conventions.
Both resolutions await a vote from the Security Council. For its part, Israel would prefer that the council refuse to vote on either, or approve them both.
By approving both, the United Nations would show that it considers Israeli children to be as important as Palestinian.
Most of the time, there is a definite bias against Israel. Just last year, of the 66 resolutions that were brought to a vote in the General Assembly, 20 were critical of Israel.
This is the first time that Israel has gone on the offensive and circulated its own resolution. The resolution will serve as a test to see if the United Nations is even capable of taking a balanced approach to the Mideast.
Israeli diplomats will be watching very closely to see how the West — especially Europe — reacts. If those countries vote in favor of, or abstain from, the Egyptian resolution and then vote against the Israeli resolution, they will be demonstrating their hypocrisy, according to Israel’s deputy ambassador at the United Nations, Arye Meckel.
The skirmish is coming up just as Israel is dealing with two major resolutions before the United Nations.
One is a binding Syrian resolution that would have forced Israel to stop building a West Bank security fence. Despite being vetoed by the United States, it later passed as a non-binding resolution in the General Assembly by a 144-4 vote.
The second is a Russian resolution, circulated last week, calling for implementation of the “road map” peace plan. Pro-Israel activists say that would empower the United Nations while usurping the Bush administration.
What Israel did this week by being proactive is something we should all be proud of. It’s time that Israel stop being the U.N.’s whipping boy.
We hope to see more Israeli resolutions that challenge countries around the world to either show their support or unmask their anti-Semitic nature.