Urging member states of the United Nations to stop supporting resolutions that unfairly castigate Israel and to promote within the United Nations a more balanced and constructive approach to resolving conflict in the Middle East.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) for his leadership on all these issues and for yielding me time. I would also like to thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros- Lehtinen) for all of her support for reforms at the U.N., as well as support for the State of Israel, what is right, and my dear friend and colleague on the House Appropriations Committee, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk), who has worked with me on a number of issues relating to reforms at the U.N. and various other issues that we hold very near and dear to our hearts.

Mr. Speaker, what if I were to ask you the following question? Maybe would you possibly guess what is the answer. As you know, the United Nations has about 190 countries in it, 190 countries in the United Nations. What if I told you that over the last 30 years, about on average one-third of each of the resolutions each year at the United Nations for the last 30 years, about one-third of the resolutions relate to criticizing one country, every year, one-third of the resolutions of the General Assembly of the U.N.

You would say, wow, one country gets one-third of the resolutions at the U.N.? What country deserves the attention, the energy, the money, the hot air of the U.N. and the condemnation of that world body? Well, you would say, maybe had to do with the slaughter in the Sudan, the genocide in Rwanda or Cambodia or Bosnia, or the actions of Saddam Hussein's Iraq. Maybe those nations. Well, we are only talking about one, so it cannot be all of them. Would one of those be the one that for 30 years has gotten one-third of the resolutions condemning a country?

What if I told you that the country that for the last 30 years was condemned with 30 percent of the resolutions at the U.N., the only country, was the State of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East? They get one-third of the resolutions of the U.N. addressed to it, the State of Israel, condemning it.

You would say, wow, what did Israel do to deserve that? Is it because Israel is a democracy and the world does not like democracies? The U.N. is against democracies, so they attack the only democracy in the Middle East? Or maybe you are more cynical and you say, ah hah, the Arab world does not like the State of Israel, so since the Arab world has all the oil, maybe that is why the U.N. devotes one-third of its resolutions every year to criticizing Israel, because they have no oil and the Arabs do not like Israel. Or maybe it is because Israel is America's best friend in the Middle East, its most reliable and trusted ally in the Middle East, and maybe that is why the U.N. does not like Israel. Or maybe you might say maybe it is because Israel is the only Jewish state in the world. Maybe that is why the U.N., of the 190 nations, singles out Israel for one-third of its resolutions a year, every year, for the last 30 years.

The 5 million Jews in Israel deserve castigation and condemnation, out of the 6 billion people on the planet, and

we pay American taxpayer dollars to finance the U.N. to do that? It is absurd. It is immoral. It is shameful.

Yet just last week, the United Nations again passed six more resolutions condemning the State of Israel. And if it is on target for each of the last 30 years, this year the United Nations will expend one-third of its resolutions criticizing one nation in the world, the tiny state, the only democracy in the Middle East, the only Jewish state in the world, the State of Israel.

Something is terribly wrong, Mr. Speaker, and this resolution that the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk) and I have put together, with the help and support of the leadership of both parties, on the IR Committee and in the House, simply says to the United Nations that they should stop supporting these resolutions, wasting their money attacking America's best friend, the only Jewish state in the world, and instead use their energy, if they want to focus on the Middle East, how about the slaughter going on in all the dictatorships in the Arab world?

Why does the U.N. not spend its money more constructively if they want to be a legitimate help in resolving issues in the Middle East? Maybe they want to introduce some pro-democracy movements in all of the Arab dictatorships in the Middle East, or maybe they want to introduce some resolutions about the torture in Arab nations around the world, or the genocide going on in every continent of the world.

But I must tell you this: The American taxpayers are sick and tired, as are the Members of this House of Representatives, of the United Nations wasting our taxpayer money to attack our best friend for no reason with double standards. It is shameful, it is fraudulent, it is slanderous. There is no way to describe their lies being offered up as truths. And we are paying for it as a member nation of the U.N.? That is wrong.

The U.N. must stop its double standard against the State of Israel, wasting one-third of its resolutions for the whole year attacking Israel, or they are going to have to deal with the consequences.

Mr. Speaker I rise in support and as a co-sponsor of H. Res. 438, which urges member states of the United Nations to stop supporting resolutions that unfairly castigate Israel and to promote within the United Nations General Assembly more balanced and constructive approaches to resolving conflict in the Middle East.

Israel is a critical strategic ally of the United States and is the only true democracy in the Middle East. The United States and Israel are built on a common set of core democratic principles and operate under the rule of law. The United States and Israel must continue to work closely together to eliminate terrorism and foster the spread of democracy and economic prosperity throughout the Middle East.

The state of Israel, founded shortly after the Holocaust, serves as a safe haven and strong voice for Jews around the world.

The Charter of the United Nations--adopted after the end of World War II--states that the U.N. was founded to ``maintain international peace and security'' and ``develop friendly relations among nations.'' The Charter also states that ``[this] Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.''

Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, the United Nations has utterly failed to live up to the principles and obligations of its charter when it comes to its treatment of Israel. The United Nations has a long history of singling out Israel for unfair, biased, and one-sided criticism and treatment. Let me mention just a few examples. Israel is the only country that has three special committees set up to support propaganda against it. Israel is the only country that has had its own agenda item dealing with its alleged human rights violations in annual meetings of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva, in contrast to all other countries which are combined into a separate agenda item. Israel is the only member nation of the United Nations that has consistently been denied full admission to its regional grouping, which violates the U.N. Charter guarantee of ``sovereign equality'' and denies Israel the right to fully participate in all U.N. functions.

Out of the ten emergency special sessions called by the United Nations General Assembly, six have related to Israel. During last year's session of the U.N. General Assembly, the body adopted a total of 71 resolutions by roll call vote, 21 of which (roughly 30 percent) criticized Israel. These resolutions are biased and one-sided, and I am disappointed that the U.N. has not focused its efforts on condemning and bringing an end to Palestinian terrorist attacks launched against Israel.

Finally, I want to cite the recent bipartisan task force report issued in June 2005 entitled ``American Interests and U.N. Reform: Report of the Task Force on the United Nations.'' The report, authored by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, found that ``systematic hostility'' against Israel is ``routinely expressed, organized, and funded'' within the U.N. system, which treats Israel as a ``second-class citizen.''

Mr. Speaker, the United Nations has a critical role to play in the 21st century in its role as peacekeeper, election monitor, and humanitarian relief provider. The U.N. has also made great strides in promoting the rule of law and democracy. Unfortunately, the U.N. to date has not played a constructive role in resolving conflict in the Middle East, and the U.N. allowed itself to be hijacked by those with a political agenda. I have also written to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan and expressed my concerns about anti-Semitic statements made by U.N. officers, and have urged him to follow the lead of the Helsinki Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in combating anti-Semitism. I hope today's resolution will cause the U.N. and its member states to reevaluate their attitudes toward Israel and to reflect on how they can use the U.N. to make a constructive and meaningful contribution to international peace and security.

I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I might consume.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this resolution. The primary pathology that infects the United Nations General Assembly is its continuing obsession with singling out and castigating the democratic nation of Israel by the passing of a series of outrageous resolutions.

Mr. Speaker, I applaud my good friend and colleague from New Jersey (Mr. Rothman) for offering this measure which encourages the U.N. to confront this pathology.

Mr. Speaker, the U.N.'s obsessive focus on Israel is not just an obstacle to the promotion of peace between Israel and the Palestinian people. The massive amount of time and resources spent on this issue by the General Assembly and the so-called U.N. Human Rights Commission crowds out the consideration of truly critical problems such as the ongoing genocide in Darfur, the AIDS crisis in Africa, Mugabe's murderous campaign against his own citizens in Zimbabwe, and scores of other real issues.

The climate created by the repeated passage of anti-Israeli measures at the U.N. also emboldens the most hate-filled, ignorant, and pathological members of the international community such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who recently declared that Israel should be wiped off the map.

The U.N.'s repeated official condemnation of Israel's efforts to provide basic security for its citizens also emboldens further violence and terrorism against innocent Israelis.

Just yesterday, five innocent Israeli civilians were killed by suicide bombers. Since Israel's population is 1/60th of ours, this would have amounted to mass murder had it occurred in the United States.

Mr. Speaker, several recent developments have provided the U.N. with an opportunity to move past its shameful legacy of bias and hatred for Israel. After decades of exclusion from positions of leadership at the U.N., Israel has gained a more normal status at the organization, culminating in the recent historic election of Israeli Ambassador Gillerman as vice president of the General Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, the U.N. currently has two bold and principled leaders who have committed themselves to confronting the U.N.'s lingering anti- Semitism. Secretary General Kofi Annan has made numerous statements on this issue and convened an historic commemorative session on the 60 anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi death camps earlier this year.

The new president of the General Assembly, Sweden's former distinguished ambassador here in Washington, my dear friend Jan Eliasson, pressed the General Assembly to adopt a U.N. date to memorialize the suffering of the Jewish people in the Holocaust as the first official act of the 60th session.

Mr. Speaker, the current U.N. reform effort also presents the organization with an opportunity to eliminate the three entities that support anti-Israel propaganda: The Division For Palestinian Rights, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Human Rights Practices Affecting the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories. That is quite a title for an organization, which is useless.

Mr. Speaker, I earnestly hope that the U.N. will take advantage of this moment and will begin to reverse its pattern of outrageous attacks on Israel. I urge all of my colleagues to support H. Res. 438.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 6 minutes to my good friend and distinguished colleague from New Jersey (Mr. Rothman), the sponsor of the resolution.

(Mr. ROTHMAN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Engel), a distinguished member of the International Relations Committee.

Mr. Speaker, we have no additional requests for time, and we yield back the balance of our time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 438) urging member states of the United Nations to stop supporting resolutions that unfairly castigate Israel and to promote within the United Nations General Assembly more balanced and constructive approaches to resolving conflict in the Middle East, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of House Resolution 438, which I am proud to cosponsor.

Mr. Speaker, I want to begin by thanking the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Rothman) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk) for their initiative in drafting this measure.

Let me also thank the chairman and the ranking member of the Committee on International Relations and the House leadership for moving this resolution to the floor so rapidly.

Mr. Speaker, as the current session of the General Assembly of the United Nations winds toward a close, there are still important decisions to be made. Will the United Nations reform itself along the lines suggested by the United States, indeed, by this House? Many of these reforms are supported widely among the member states of the U.N. and even in some parts of its bureaucracy. Or will it continue along its way, wasting money and political capital on what lawyers might call ``larks and detours''?

Among the most wasteful of the activities of the U.N. is its incessant use of funds and time on Israel-bashing resolutions and institutions. While these were never good ideas, and have been opposed by all American administrations, any excuse for supporting them has simply disappeared with the changes in the situation on the ground in the Middle East.

The resolution carefully catalogs the abysmal record of the United Nations' one-sided criticism of Israel over the decades. I will not repeat the details that are covered in the resolution; but it is enough to say, enough is enough. It is time to bring this unacceptable behavior to an end.

The United Nation has legitimate work to do. It should not sully its hands further with this one-sided agenda which serves no useful purpose, but only prevents it from doing good where it might be able to do so.

Mr. Speaker, I ask the administration which has been working on these issues energetically to increase its efforts to correct this situation, including through the elimination of Palestinian offices and commissions that serve to fuel the anti-Israel bias and the resolutions that they always consider.

I included such a mandate in the U.N. Reform Act, the Henry Hyde bill, and I look forward to working with the administration toward this goal.

When our current permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador John Bolton, was Assistant Secretary of State for organizational affairs during the administration of the first President Bush, he executed a masterful strategy aimed at the repeal of the infamous Zionism is Racism resolution of the General Assembly.

Mr. Speaker, I have every confidence that given his energy and the backing of the Department, he will have success in carrying out the agenda outlined in this resolution before us.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to render their strong support for this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk).

(Mr. KIRK asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Mrs. Miller).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Garrett).

Mr. Speaker, I also have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the distinguished gentleman from California, for the time.

I rise in strong support of H. Res. 438, which urges the U.N. member states to cease unfairly castigating Israel and adopt a balanced approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I would also like to commend the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Rothman) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Kirk) for their diligent effort on this issue, as well as the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen).

Mr. Speaker, this resolution concerns one simple issue: equality of all U.N. member states. It is shameful, absolutely shameful, that Israel, a state established by U.N. consensus in the ashes of the Holocaust, has been unjustly maligned for decades. More than 30 years since the infamous Zionism of Racism resolution, an established precedent of Israel-bashing still thrives at the United Nations.

Within the context of U.N. reform, eradicating the various mechanisms of bias is crucial to its success. Examples include the plethora of resolutions condemning Israel while the world's worst human rights abusers escape attention or are even appointed to key U.N. panels.

I am particularly concerned with the three annual U.N. resolutions which reauthorize the so-called Division on Palestinian Rights, the Committee on the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, and the Special Committee to Investigate so-called Israeli Human Rights Abuses. These bodies serve no other purpose than to bash Israel and endorse the cause of one side in the long-standing conflict. Such discriminatory treatment of Israel discredits the entire United Nations organization and should be immediately eliminated.

Mr. Speaker, I recently returned from meetings in the European Union. I and the gentleman from New York (Mr. Ackerman) and other colleagues urged European Union officials to switch their vote in the U.N. General Assembly from ``abstention'' to ``no'' on those resolutions which fund anti-Israel entities. I say to our friends in the European Union, an abstention is the equivalent of voting ``yes'' and continuing the bias against Israel. By voting ``no,'' the EU can join the United States in dissolving these inherently discriminatory panels, transfer the funds to a real humanitarian purpose, and move unequivocally to the realm of honest broker. If the EU states were to vote ``no,'' funding would stop because there would not be the necessary two-thirds to perpetuate the funding.

Mr. Speaker, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will not be solved by constantly berating one side, Israel. By tolerating such action, the organization responsible for maintaining world peace is actually exacerbating the conflict by discriminating against a member state.

I strongly urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 438.