In UN Ag Tech Spat, Israel Calls "Shameful" Abstention by S. Africa, Which Feels Singled Out

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, December 11 -- Verbal skirmishes between Israel and the Arab Group and vice versa are expected at the UN. Tuesday in connection with what Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman called a rare feel-good story, a less intuitive fight broke out, Israel versus South Africa. Amb. Gillerman summoned reporters to the microphone outside the Security Council chamber to highlight the passage in the General Assembly's Second Committee of a resolution sponsored by Israel, on the use of agricultural technology for development. He said it was the first Israeli-sponsored resolution to pass the Committee, and he noted that there were no votes against it. There were 29 abstentions, "mostly Arab states," he said, "which I do not understand but which I respect." Then Amb. Gillerman singled out South Africa's abstention, and called it "shameful... unless it was a mistake... pressed the wrong button." South Africa calls itself the leader of Africa, making its abstention all the worse, he said. The implication was that South Africa has abstained for the same "political" reason as the Arab states, but with less justification, at least in Israel's eyes.

            Inner City Press, after asking Amb. Gillerman some questions (video here, from Minute 8:58), sought the South African mission's reason for abstention. It was explained that the draft resolution had not included the Africa focus found in the Millennium Declaration and the 2005 World Summit Outcome documents, lacking provisions about intellectual property, for example. Amendments had been attempted but rejected. A suggestion had been made to have the resolution be a proposal of the Chairman of the committee, but Israel, the mission said, fought to retain ownership.

            Amb. Gillerman said that Israel does not want to be a "one issue" country, that it has been very active in sharing its agricultural technology in Africa, Latin America and elsewhere. He limited questions to issues of agriculture, "on this festive day," he said. Inner City Press asked for details on Israel's collaboration with the UN's Food and Agricultural Organization. Amb. Gillerman referred the question to his "expert," Ilan Fluss, who answered that FAO had coordinated with Israel on the resolution throughout the process.

            South Africa has been fingered, by the U.S. mission and the New York Times, for opposing an General Assembly resolution denouncing rape in the service of governmental or military goals. There is, of course, South Africa's position on Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, previously covered by Inner City Press. But beyond that, Reuters highlighted earlier this year that on a Holocaust resolution adopted by consensus, the South African representative was not present in the meeting, along with Iran and the Sudan. One diplomat asked, Why are we being singled out? Especially by Israel, which complains of disparate treatment?

In the UN General Assembly, Amb. Dan Gillerman in action

            Ilan Fluss, who coordinated the resolution, was previously Israel's acting Ambassador in South Africa. Clearly there's some tension there, to single out one of the 29 abstentions. Other abstainers included Algeria, Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Djibouti, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

            It has been noted that the resolution still has to be considered by the full General Assembly, next week. Late Tuesday, Inner City Press asked the Permanent Observer of Palestine, Riyad Mansour, about the ag tech spat. Amb. Mansour riffed that "the Israeli delegate forgot the statement of his leaders in Annapolis, when they expressed thrills at seeing 16 Arab states there." He suggested that Israel, if it was interested in more than "scoring political points... with a minor victory," should have allowed the resolution to be converted into a consensus text sponsored by the Committee's chair. Amb. Mansour specifically took issue with Amb. Gillerman having "lashed out" at South Africa, which he called "a country that no one can question their integrity with regard to justice and doing the right thing." Video here. Afterwards, a Council diplomat mused that the tables were turned, with the Palestinians offering verbal defenses of South Africa. And so it goes at the UN.

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Click here for a Reuters AlertNet piece by this correspondent about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click here for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali National Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an undefined trust fund.  Video Analysis here

  Because a number of Inner City Press' UN sources go out of their way to express commitment to serving the poor, and while it should be unnecessary, Inner City Press is compelled to conclude this installment in a necessarily-ongoing series by saluting the stated goals of the UN agencies and many of their staff. Keep those cards, letters and emails coming, and phone calls too, we apologize for any phone tag, but please continue trying, and keep the information flowing.

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