Jewish nationalism in Palestine

In July 1920, at the San Remo conference, a Class "A" League of Nations mandate over Palestine was allocated to the British. The preamble of the mandate document declared:

Whereas the Principal Allied Powers have also agreed that the Mandatory should be responsible for putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2nd, 1917, by the Government of His Britannic Majesty, and adopted by the said Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing should be done which might prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.^[2]

UN Partition Plan for Palestine

On 29 November 1947, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution recommending "to the United Kingdom, as the mandatory Power for Palestine, and to all other Members of the United Nations the adoption and implementation, with regard to the future government of Palestine, of the Plan of Partition with Economic Union" as Resolution 181 (II).^[3] The plan contained a proposal to terminate the British Mandate for Palestine and partition Palestine into "independent Arab and Jewish States and the Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem." On 14 May 1948, the day on which the British Mandate over Palestine expired, the Jewish People's Council gathered at the Tel Aviv Museum, and approved a proclamation which declared the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz Israel, to be known as the State of Israel.^[4]

On 11 May 1949, Israel was admitted to membership in the United Nations.^[5]

Israel

In his address to the United Nations General Assembly the same day, 10 November 1975, Israeli Ambassador Chaim Herzog stated:^[9]

"I can point with pride to the Arab ministers who have served in my government; to the Arab deputy speaker of my Parliament; to Arab officers and men serving of their own volition in our border and police defense forces, frequently commanding Jewish troops; to the hundreds of thousands of Arabs from all over the Middle East crowding the cities of Israel every year; to the thousands of Arabs from all over the Middle East coming for medical treatment to Israel; to the peaceful coexistence which has developed; to the fact that Arabic is an official language in Israel on a par with Hebrew; to the fact that it is as natural for an Arab to serve in public office in Israel as it is incongruous to think of a Jew serving in any public office in an Arab country, indeed being admitted to many of them. Is that racism? It is not! That ... is Zionism."

Herzog ended his statement, while holding a copy of the resolution, with these words:

"For us, the Jewish people, this resolution based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance, is devoid of any moral or legal value. For us, the Jewish people, this is no more than a piece of paper and we shall treat it as such."

As he concluded his speech, Herzog tore the resolution in half.

The name of the "UN Avenue" in Haifa, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv was switched to the "Zionism Avenue" as a response to the UN's decision.^[10]

United States

Before the vote, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, warned that, "The United Nations is about to make anti-Semitism international law."^[11] He delivered a speech against the resolution, including the famous line, "[The United States] does not acknowledge, it will not abide by, it will never acquiesce in this infamous act ... A great evil has been loosed upon the world."^[12]

In Campbell, California, in the United States, a group of high school students attempted to solicit signatures on the premises of a local shopping center for a petition against Resolution 3379. The result was the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Pruneyard Shopping Center v. Robins (1980) that supported states' rights to expand the exercise of free speech, which California held was legal in what were considered public areas of a shopping mall.^[13]

Mexico's vote in favor of the resolution led some United States Jews to organize a tourism boycott of Mexico. This ended after Mexican foreign minister Emilio Óscar Rabasa made a trip to Israel (Rabasa shortly afterward was forced to resign).^[14][15]

Motion by the United States

Resolution 46/86 was raised under pressure from the United States,^[17] and American president George H. W. Bush personally introduced the motion to revoke Resolution 3379 with the following statement:

UNGA Resolution 3379, the so-called "Zionism is racism" resolution, mocks this pledge and the principles upon which the United Nations was founded. And I call now for its repeal. Zionism is not a policy; it is the idea that led to the creation of a home for the Jewish people, to the State of Israel. And to equate Zionism with the intolerable sin of racism is to twist history and forget the terrible plight of Jews in World War II and, indeed, throughout history. To equate Zionism with racism is to reject Israel itself, a member of good standing of the United Nations. This body cannot claim to seek peace and at the same time challenge Israel's right to exist. By repealing this resolution unconditionally, the United Nations will enhance its credibility and serve the cause of peace.^[17]

Text of Resolution 46/86

The full text of the revocation was simply:^[18][19]

"The General Assembly decides to revoke the determination contained in its resolution 3379 (XXX) of 10 November 1975."

Votes of Resolution 46/86

Voting record

In favour (111) 88 states sponsoring	Abstaining (13)	Against (25)	Absent (15)
Albania  Antigua and Barbuda  Argentina  Australia  Austria  Bahamas  Barbados  Belarus  Belgium  Belize  Benin  Bhutan  Bolivia  Botswana  Brazil  Bulgaria  Burundi Cambodia  Cameroon  Canada  Cape Verde  Central African Republic  Chile  Congo  Costa Rica  Côte d’Ivoire  Cyprus Czechoslovakia  Denmark  Dominica  Dominican Republic  Ecuador  El Salvador  Estonia  Fiji  Finland  France  Gabon  The Gambia  Germany  Greece  Grenada  Guatemala  Guyana  Haiti  Honduras  Hungary  Iceland  India  Ireland  Israel Italy  Jamaica  Japan  Kenya  Lesotho  Latvia  Liberia  Lithuania  Luxembourg  Madagascar  Malta  Malawi  Marshall Islands  Mexico  Mongolia  Micronesia  Mozambique  Namibia  Nepal  Netherlands  New Zealand  Nicaragua  Nigeria  Norway  Panama  Papua New Guinea  Paraguay  Peru  Philippines  Poland  Portugal  South Korea  Romania  Rwanda  Saint Kitts and Nevis  Saint Lucia  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines  São Tomé and Príncipe  Seychelles  Sierra Leone  Singapore  Solomon Islands  Soviet Union  Spain  Suriname  Swaziland  Sweden  Thailand  Togo  Ukraine  United Kingdom  United States  Uruguay Venezuela  Yugoslavia  Zaire  Zambia	Angola  Burkina Faso Ethiopia  Ghana  Laos  Maldives Mauritius Myanmar  Trinidad and Tobago  Turkey  Uganda  Tanzania  Zimbabwe	Afghanistan  Algeria  Brunei  Bangladesh  Cuba  North Korea  Indonesia  Iran  Iraq  Jordan  Lebanon  Libya  Malaysia  Mali  Mauritania  Pakistan  Qatar  Saudi Arabia Somalia  Sri Lanka  Sudan  Syrian Arab Republic  United Arab Emirates  Vietnam  Yemen	Bahrain  Chad  China  Comoros  Djibouti  Egypt  Guinea  Guinea-Bissau Kuwait  Morocco  Niger  Oman  Senegal  South Africa  Tunisia  Vanuatu
Source: United Nations Bibliographic Information System[20]