Israel: UN Engaging in 'Moral Relativism'

[JohnLocke]

Israel: UN Engaging in 'Moral Relativism'
By Julie Stahl
CNSNews.com Jerusalem Bureau Chief
December 09, 2003

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Israel on Tuesday blasted the United Nations General Assembly's decision to seek advice from an international court on the legality of a security barrier being built between Israel and the West Bank.
Israel said the U.N. resolution, which doesn't mention terrorism, smacks of 'moral relativism.'
The resolution was passed in an emergency session on Monday by a vote of 90-8, with 74 abstentions. The resolution asked the International Court of Justice in The Hague to weigh the "legal consequences arising from the construction of the wall being built by Israel, the occupying power."
Those opposing the resolution were the U.S., Israel, Micronesia, Australia, Ethiopia, Marshall Islands, Nauru and Palau.
...
The resolution was proposed by 27 Arab, Muslim and non-aligned states after U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan called the construction of the barrier a "deeply counterproductive act."
....
"Israel has had to face over the last 30 years the politicization of the U.N. bodies, including the General Assembly," Gold said in a telephone interview.
"The fact that adopted a resolution condemning the fence but hasn't lifted a finger to condemn terror attacks against Israeli civilians only demonstrates the moral relativism that the U.N. General Assembly," said Gold, who was Israel's ambassador to the U.N. from 1997-99.
"The question is whether the International Court of Justice, by getting involved in giving an advisory opinion, will allow itself to be politicized," he said. Gold added that Israel would study the resolution and its implications, taking into account other advisory opinions rendered by the court for the General Assembly in the past.
The Palestinian Authority described the resolution as "a victory for justice and international law... It is a message from the international community to Israel to stop its aggression and to stop building the wall," the PA said in a statement.
...

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=%5CForeignBureaus%5Carchive%5C200312%5CFOR20031209b.html

[Loonman]

1. One set of rules for Israel

Different set of rules for everyone else.

[bluesoul]

2. Yeah like the US veto

that saves them every time...

[JohnLocke]

3. Thank god for the US veto!

[Jim Sagle]

4. Fuckin' A.

:thumbsup:

[DuctapeFatwa]

5. That might not be the best argument, strategy-wise

One of the problems with the "moral relativism" argument is that its essence is "While it is wrong for you to hit me in the head and take your wallet, if I hit you in the head and take your wallet, that is very different and not wrong at all."

This is not an easy precept to defend, especially for those who frequently decry the decline in absolute moral values.

Bringing the UN into the picture complicates things further, since it was the UN that at least on paper, created the state of Israel in 1948, putting the argument's advocates in the unenviable position of explaining that the UN is an internationally recognized authority, whose decisions must be respected when the decision is to create Israel, but when the decision is that Israel should respect international laws and 4th Geneva, the UN is a terrorist appeaser and a veritable viper's nest of moral relativism ;)

[Jim Sagle]

6. Pffffftttttt!

[pistoff democrat]

7. The U.N. Vote on Resolution 181

The 33 countries that cast the “Yes” vote were: Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Byelorussia, Canada, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Haiti, Iceland, Liberia, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine, Union of South Africa, USSR, USA, Uruguay, Venezuela. (Among other countries, the list includes the US, the three British Dominions, all the European countries except for Greece and the UK, but including all the Soviet-block countries.)

The 13 countries that chose the Hall of Shame and voted “No” were: Afghanistan, Cuba, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Yemen. (Ten of these are Moslem countries; Greece has the special distinction of being the only European country to have joined the Hall of Shame.)

The ten countries that abstained are: Argentina, Chile, China, Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, United Kingdom, Yugoslavia.

On November 30, 1947, the day following the vote, the Palestinian Arabs murdered six Jews in a bus making its way to Jerusalem, and proceeded to murder another Jew in the Tel-Aviv - Jaffa area. This was a prelude to a war that claimed the lives of 6,000 Jews, or 1% of the total Jewish population in 1948. This toll is the per capita equivalent of today’s Canada losing 300,000 lives, or the US losing 3,000,000. In addition, immediately after the UN vote, Arabs attacks their Jewish neighbours in a number of Arab countries, the murders in Syria’s Aleppo being the best known.


http://www.factsofisrael.com/load.php?p=http://www.factsofisrael.com/blog/archives/000520.html

[Jim Sagle]

8. Moral relativism? No - more like moral upside downism.