On Anniversary of October 7, ACLJ Sends Legal Letter to 42 Nations That Have Betrayed Israel at the UN and Empowered Terror

Israel continues to fight for its existence one year after Hamas’ brutal attack of October 7, 2023. Amid Iran launching about 200 rockets at Israel last week and Israel countering the Hezbollah threat from Lebanon while still fighting with Hamas, the lawfare at the United Nations also continues.

As we recently informed you, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution calling upon the international community to “ensure full implementation of the advisory opinion” of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which stated that Israel’s continued presence in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank (Judea and Samaria), and East Jerusalem is unlawful. The resolution further demanded that Israel withdraw from the so-called “Occupied Palestinian Territory” within 12 months. It was adopted by 124 votes in favor, 14 against, and 43 abstentions.

We sent legal letters to 42 countries that either voted in favor of or abstained from voting on the resolution. Interestingly, we noted that most of the Member States that abstained from voting against the one-sided resolution did so not because they agree with the content of the resolution, but because they support the two-state solution and believe such resolutions would drive the parties to come to the negotiation table.

On the anniversary of October 7, we informed those Member States that their abstention would not produce the intended result:

Abstentions show neutrality, at best, and support, at worst. Abstaining from rejecting a one-sided resolution will not support your intended desire for a two-state solution. It will only embolden groups like Hamas in their attacks against Israel. This is the international effect of your government’s vote, and it is disappointing . . . .

We informed the Member States that we are deeply disappointed by their decision to abstain from fully rejecting the resolution and requested that they withdraw their abstention and inform the U.N. Secretariat of their intent to fully reject the resolution as a one-sided political tool to demonize Israel.

Our letter further stated:

It is sad that the UNGA Resolution . . . does not even mention Hamas, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, or the vile and brutal attack of 7 October. It does not mention the indiscriminate murders of innocent civilians (including babies), brutal rapes, mutilations, and desecration of bodies by Hamas—all constituting war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Yet, your country failed to deny support to such a one-sided resolution.

The letter also pointed out the false presumptions on which the U.N. refers to the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem as “Occupied Palestinian Territory”:

Israel has a valid legal claim to those areas based on the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine. The often-cited 1947 UNGA Resolution 181(II) (that suggested a two-state solution) as a basis for the “Palestinian state” was never implemented because the Arabs rejected it. And, thus, no Palestinian state was ever created. As such, Israel is not illegally occupying those areas.

We hope that these countries will see how the U.N. has been weaponized against Israel. We will continue to fight for our ally Israel at the U.N., the International Criminal Court, the ICJ, and all other forums where it is singled out for detrimental treatment.