Near unanimous UN support for Israel 'an important achievement'

[leftynyc]

In a rare turn of events, Israel received almost unanimous support at the United Nations last week for its proposal to further the dissemination of agricultural and farming technology to developing African nations.

Despite of the humanitarian nature of the proposal, it was met with vehement opposition from representatives of Arab nations, including some that will be helped by the proposal.

Regardless of the aid the proposal would provide to African countries who are suffering from drought and malnutrition, Arab nations, some of whom sit on the United Nations human rights council, did not vote in favor of the proposal for political reasons.

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/204703#.VmmigNIrKig


I'm sure some will be around to explain why these nations who abstained would rather have their people die than accept help from Israel. Good for Israel doing the right thing and for the UN doing something useful for a change.

[oberliner]

1. Israel National News is a RW settler website

I would discourage you from using it as a source here.

Here's info on the resolution (and the Palestinian opposition to it) from the UN website:

Agricultural Technology for Sustainable Development among Eight Texts Approved by Second Committee

The General Assembly would underline the instrumental role of agricultural technology in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development under the terms of a draft resolution approved by a recorded vote today by the Second Committee (Economic and Financial), which also took action by consensus on six other texts as well as a draft decision.

Titled “Agricultural technology for sustainable development” and introduced by Israel during the meeting, it was sent to the Assembly by a vote of 124 in favour, with 37 abstentions and no delegations voting against.

By its terms, the Assembly would urge Member States, relevant United Nations organizations and other stakeholders to strengthen efforts to improve the development of sustainable agricultural technologies and their transfer and dissemination to developing countries. Member States would be called upon to mainstream gender into agricultural policies, encouraged to develop youth-focused agricultural projects and invited to promote agricultural cooperatives in line with World Trade Organization (WTO) rules. States would also be called upon to make sustainable development an integral part of their national policies.

Speaking before the vote, the representative of the State of Palestine said Israel had a lot of courage to submit such a text, as it conducted ethnic cleansing and exploited Palestinian resources in illegal ways. After the vote, Israel’s delegate said the text would help improve the lives of millions around the world by enhancing the capacity of small-scale famers.

http://www.un.org/press/en/2015/gaef3442.doc.htm

[leftynyc]

2. OK - from you I will

take that criticism as I've seen you complain on sourcing regarding both sides. But in all honesty, I figured it was the vote that counted and they have that right on the money.

[oberliner]

3. Agreed about the vote and its significance

It was covered here as well:

Israeli resolution on agtech wins broad support at UN

http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-resolution-on-agtech-wins-broad-support-at-un/