21 Days to Go – Three Weeks Left – Have You Written to the UN?

By Sherwin Pomerantz

Three weeks from today, on Wednesday, September 13th at 3 PM Eastern Daylight Time in New York the 66th Regular Session of the UN General Assembly will convene. Have you written to the UN representatives asking them to vote NO or at a minimum, ABSTAIN? And if not, why not? Because you don’t believe it will do any good? Rubbish! Rubbish! Rubbish!

People are moved by public opinion, that’s what pollsters tell us, that’s what politicians know and history has proven that when we have made our voices heard it meant something. God forbid we should remain silent at this important juncture in the history of the Jewish people.

I applaud (and you should as well) the actions of Sen. Robert Menendez (Democrat-New Jersey) and Sen. Marco Rubio (Republican-Florida) who last week sent letters to the Presidents of Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica encouraging them to oppose any resolution that may come before the UN General Assembly seeking to impose a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by the UN. They wrote:

"Though it has proven to be an elusive goal, we are confident that long-lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians is achievable and that direct, bilateral negotiations between the sides offer the best hope of realizing it. Therefore, we are deeply concerned about efforts by the Palestinian leadership to seek unilateral recognition of Palestinian statehood during the upcoming meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York."

"As you may know, the US Senate recently approved by Unanimous Consent a Resolution declaring that persistence by the Palestinian Authority to circumvent direct negotiations will have implications for continued American aid. Therefore, a unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state at the UN is not in the best interests of the Palestinian people or conducive to the ultimate objective of two democratic states living side by side in peace and security."

For those who are not aware, Menendez is the Chairman and Rubio is the Ranking Member (i.e. highest ranking member of the minority party) of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. Kudos to them and our gratitude for their putting their money where their mouths are.

Speaking of that, this week I spent about $200 on postage to send individual letters to every UN delegate (copy of the letter attached as well as the list of representatives, once again) urging them to either vote NO or ABSTAIN, as either will be good for us and abstaining may even be better than a no vote, and probably more palatable to many of the delegates. One of the stamps even said “Visit Israel” so it will be interesting to see if the Iranian mission even accepts the mail. Time will tell.

But what are YOU doing about this? Even if you believe it will not help are you willing to take that risk with the lives of those of us who live here and, truth be told, ultimately the lives of westerners living abroad as well? One lesson we have learned in history is that when bad things begin to happen, they may begin with Jews but we are just the litmus test for the evildoers. If they get away with their attempts to discredit us, the rest of the world is the next target.

I accept the fact as some people have pointed out, that some of this is alarmist. But better to sound the alarm for a perceived threat that does not materialize than to keep silent and suffer the consequences.

Elie Wiesel said “Because of indifference, one dies before one actually dies.” I vote for life and hope you do as well!