Mr. Shamir focussed his remarks on the almost universal onslaught against Zionism, which he thought was also a veiled attack on Israel. He singled out the many international conferences which were used to denounce Zionism and especially the various United Nations bodies, starting with the infamous Zionism is racism resolution of 1975. Text:
Mr. President,
At the outset, I should like to associate myself with the words of the speakers this morning in welcoming our two distinguished guests of honour who have come from abroad to participate in our deliberations and in our efforts to refute the Zionist-racist equation.
It would be quite superfluous for me to elaborate, at such a gathering, on the meaning of Zionism, its origin, its character and its aims. Let me state in the plainest terms, however, that Zionism is the noblest and purest liberation movement of our times. It is an outgrowth of the love, the faith and the prayers of the Jewish people, over the centuries, that brought us back to our ancient land from all the corners of the globe.
UN Assembly Resolution
Dear friends, we in Israel, like Jews the world over and men of goodwill everywhere, still recall with indignation the action of the General Assembly that discarded all the lofty principles on which the United Nations Organization was founded in San Francisco in 1945, after the nightmare of the Second World War.
When we look back on that day, we ask, with all the passion we can, command: who were they, these promoters of that resolution besmirching our ancient nation and our noble ideal? Who were these paragons of virtue and decency? In the main, they were the symbols of evil and barbarism in our time, the perpetrators of genocide, the Idi Amins and his ilk, dictatorships that disregard elementary human rights and that, by brutal force, have eliminated all opposition in their own countries. Their ethical and spiritual values match those of the darkest periods in the Middle Ages. And, tragically, national representatives who had no idea about the issue and its implications, who had never studied or tried to understand the meaning of Zionism, voted in favour of this infamous resolution that equated Zionism with the horrifying concept of racism which Nazi Germany had directed against our people, resulting in one of the most terrible tragedies in the history of man.
Some of our friends - not very many, I must confess, to our regret - refuted the allegations of the resolution in eloquent speeches. Indeed, at that time, at the height of the oil crisis, it took some courage to stand up against the Arab world and to side openly with Israel.
'Festival of Hypocrisy'
We are very fortunate today to have in our midst the most outstanding spokesmen for justice in the midst of what my friend and leader, Menachem Begin, then described as "the Festival of Hypocrisy." I salute Senator Patrick Moynihan and Father Rev. Nunez and, of course, the President of Israel, Chaim Herzog, who was at that time the Ambassador of Israel at the Untied Nations.
Senator Moynihan, I take the liberty to quote one sentence from your unforgettable speech at the close of the debate which, in my opinion, sums up the bizarre proceedings. You said: "The United Nations today grants symbolic amnesty - and more - to the murderers of six million European Jews." And your definition of the world body as the "Theatre of the Absurd" is classic. Indeed, a theatre where tragedies are performed, where great hopes have been dashed.
The resolution was, of course, tabled by Arab members of the UN who had assured themselves of the unconditional support of the Eastern bloc and many non-aligned nations. They had decided on this strategy after realizing that they would not be able to muster enough support for a resolution ousting, or suspending, Israel from the UN. The anti-Zionist resolution was, therefore, in their view, the second-best way to achieve their declared goal: to deligitimate Israel and the Zionist Movement, to besmirch their reputation and standing in the eyes of the world and to lead, thereby, ultimately to their total isolation and rejection.
The Soviet Union and other Eastern block countries had their own reasons for supporting the resolution. For Jews in the Soviet Union, Zionism means freedom, independence, self-determination, the fulfillment of personal and national aspirations, the striving for repatriation to Eretz-Israel. This, the Russians cannot tolerate and permit. Therefore, the anti-Zionist resolution played right into their hands. They exploited it to the hilt. The whole of Russia was made aware that the callous refusal of emigration to Russian Jews, to practise Zionism, to learn and teach Hebrew, was not simply of the Soviet regime, but the implementation of an international definition.
A Sense of History
After the adoption of the resolution some of our friends tried to persuade us not to attach too much importance to it. They argued that, after all, it is only a piece of paper; it is not even an operative resolution, calling for action; it is a declaration without impact that will be forgotten in time. But, unfortunately they underrated the nature of declarative resolutions that gather impetus and become an accepted norm - for better or for worse.
We, of course, treated the resolution with the contempt it deserved. But, we are an ancient people with a long experience and a sense of history, and we cannot allow such a malicious slander to stand on the record and burden future generations of our people.
Already, the wording has, like poison, infiltrated the minds of many people. The charge that Zionism is racism has consciously or unwittingly been accepted as an axiom and a self-evident truth by parties on the left and on the right of the political spectrum, even in many countries of the Western world.
After the Second World War, anti-Zionism and anti-semitism were practically banned from the lexicon of all political parties and public bodies in the civilized world. But the adoption of the obscene resolution suddenly provided a sort of legitimation, even respectability, to anti-Zionist and antisemitic feelings and their manifestations., It made them a subject of accepted parlour conversation in the circles of the New Left and the extreme right; it opened the valve for antisemitism, which still exists not only in the Eastern bloc, but also among the non-aligned states, and even in the West.
Extreme political parties can now feel free to use these concepts as a bait to attract the support of the masses, a strategy which we know only too well from the pre-war days.
Outrageous Accusations
But it is not only in the lower strata of political and public life that the resolution is making its impact. You might look at the proceedings of the highest international forum itself, the United Nations, its specialized agencies, its various conventions and the network of its departments and institutions. Resolutions linking imperialism, colonialism, racism, Zionism, apartheid - all in one breath - as despicable concepts have become almost commonplace.
In the United Nations General Assembly itself, everything is now permitted and accepted. The most outrageous accusations and allegation may be levelled, from that illustrious rostrum, at our country and at Zionism, without any intervention and with almost no protest from any delegates in the Assembly Hall. All that is required is for the speaker, at the beginning of his vociferous speech, to refer to Resolution 3379 as a justification.
Moreover, the condemnation of Zionism as racism, and its linkage to all possible crimes against humanity, have become almost an obligatory right at the various meetings of the non-aligned bloc, be it the summit meetings of the heads of state, or other bodies such as foreign ministers' conferences.
A story is currently circulating in the corridors of the UN that a prominent personality - I think it was Mrs. Kirkpatrick -was welcomed, on arrival in one of the poorest countries in Africa, by a group of children who displayed, among other things, a huge banner with the inscription, "Zionism is Racism." These poor children certainly had many more vital problems regarding their personal and national well-being to worry about, but they were being misused, unashamedly, for anti-Zionist propaganda.
At International Conferences
Far more serious have been some of the deliberations of important international conferences that were meant to be landmarks in the development of human society. Let me mention only, as an example, the two world conferences of the International Women's Decade in Mexico and Copenhagen. This decade was proclaimed by the UN with the worthy intention of elevating the status of women in the world to achieve equality for women, to open new vistas for women in the developing world in short, to make the world aware of the situation of women.
What happened in fact? From the outset, both conferences were manipulated by politicians for propagating extraneous interests. Utterly disproportional attention and precious time were wasted on anti-Zionist propaganda. In fact, it was at the Mexico conference that the Arab delegations tried out the first version of the anti-Zionist resolution, and they achieved marked success.
The third World Conference of Women will convene next year in Nairobi. If the Western World would at least learn the lesson from the first two experiences, they would demand and insist that only relevant subjects be deliberated, and thus would prevent a repetition of the absurdities of Mexico and Copenhagen. But will they have the conviction, the perseverance and the strength to do this?
You will find the evil influence of the resolution not only in the international arena, but even in the most democratic countries. In Great Britain, in the United States, in Canada, there are university campuses where the use of campus facilities has been denied to Jewish student organizations on the grounds that they are Jewish and, therefore, pro-Zionist; and, since Zionism has been declared to be racism by the UN, the secretariat of the students' federations wishes to prevent their campus from being infected by racist elements.
The Need for Counter-Measures
We must realize that nine years have passed since the adoption of the resolution equating Zionism with racism. A whole new generation has matured since then, and many of them never heard any refutation of the resolution and regard it as a statement of fact and a truism. Obviously, the incidents I have mentioned are isolated incidents, engineered mostly by Arab students. At the moment they occur mainly on the fringe, but it gives one an inkling of what might be in store for the democratic world if effective counter-explanatory measures are not taken in good time.
We, the Government of Israel, and the World Zionist Movement are becoming more and more aware of the need to develop special counter-measures. We must find ways of erasing or negating this resolution. My ministry has requested all our diplomatic missions abroad to study the repercussions of the resolution in the countries to which they are accredited. We have received very interesting reports. There is quite a large range of nuances. Facts, events and atmosphere vary from country to country. But it is clear that in most countries, including those of the free world, anti-semitism and anti-Zionism work hand-in-hand; often, indeed, these two terms are now inseparable and interchangeable. Anyhow, for the Jewish people, the consequences of both are the same.
My friends, it is not a minute too soon for us to marshal our forces in Israel, among world Jewry and among our good friends everywhere to refute the Zionism-racism equation and to restore the noble image of Zionism. Regimes have changed and governments have been replaced in some of the countries that voted for the resolution or abstained on the vote. We may succeed in getting them to see the error of their ways and bring about a revision of the resolution. Alternatively, we ought to support current moves to bring into being another United Nations, one composed of democratic countries and based on humanity, truth and justice, and that will, as one of its first actions, adopt a resolution proclaiming the historic truth that Zionism, the national movement of the Jewish people, is one of the noblest and purest and most justified liberation movements of our time.
Message of Hope
To conclude, I should like to see this occasion, which coincides with Armistice Day, to remind democratic governments and free nations the world over that the world's attitude towards the Jew is like a barometer measuring their own moral and spiritual condition. As long as this grotesque resolution stands, civilization is stained and endangered. The Armistice did not, as had been hoped, end war for all time. On the contrary, weakness enabled evil forces to raise their heads again and grotesque doctrines to spread. Mankind has paid a terrible price for ignoring the perils of prejudice and hatred.
From this platform, in the residence of the President of our sovereign State of Israel, I affirm our pride in Zionism, in its beautiful ideal, in its great deeds, in its accomplishments and in its eternal message of hope and security for our people.