In recent days, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling upon Israel to withdraw from all Palestinian areas within one year and for an arms embargo to be formed against weapons that Israel might use in those areas. It was adopted by a two-thirds majority in a recorded vote of 124 in favor to 14 against, with 43 abstentions. Israel has immediately condemned this biased, slanted UN General Assembly resolution, and rightly so.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry declared that the UN General Assembly resolution represented "cynical international politics" that would encourage terrorism and harm the chances for peace. The resolution, the ministry said in a statement posted to X, strengthens Hamas and "the Iranian terrorist state that stands behind it," while sending a message that "terrorism pays." It also makes a hostage deal less likely, the ministry argued, referring to efforts via international mediators to reach a ceasefire in exchange for the release of captives.
Sadly, the UN General Assembly is not the only one to have a one-sided approach to conflicts in the world. The Netherlands Parliament set out a program that includes an International Security Chapter, which, while mentioning the escalated conflicts, labels the liberation of Azerbaijani territories as the "takeover of Nagorno-Karabakh." The infamous resolution also accuses Azerbaijan of engaging in "ethnic cleansing and damage to cultural heritage."
The Azerbaijani Parliament protested this move as a "racist political act." They added: "The emergence of such a document in the parliament of the Netherlands now that peace negotiations with Armenia are afoot and definitely encouraging results are being achieved to this comes as a vivid example of political recklessness and irresponsibility."
The Azerbaijani Parliament added, "It is regrettable that the members of the Parliament of the Netherlands never once raised their voices during those 30 years for which Azerbaijani lands had remained occupied and one million Azerbaijanis became refugees and IDPs. During this period of time, the Netherlands MPs tended to support the occupiers either openly or covertly, and today they are inclined to endorse the actions that undermine the process of normalization between two states that have had a conflict for many years."
The West Azerbaijani community added: "The Dutch parliament, which turned a blind eye to the expulsion of Azerbaijanis from Armenia and the once-occupied Azerbaijani territories, and the massive destruction of Azerbaijani cultural heritage, now demonstrates a fundamentally slanderous position. The harmful interference of external states in the context of the recent steps taken towards normalization of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia, including the delineation of borders, is unacceptable. The Western Azerbaijani community demands that the Dutch Parliament and government put an end to their biased and inappropriate actions, support the return of the Azerbaijanis expelled from Armenia and support peace in the region."
Netherlands also gave a detailed statement on the recent UN General Assembly resolution against Israel, chastising Israel for the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza, and only abstained due to the "lack of clarity on the temporary nature of a humanitarian cease-fire" and "lack of reference to the heinous attacks by Hamas." If the Palestinians were open to negotiations on these two points, the Netherlands would have supported the recent UN General Assembly resolution, even though it makes a conclusion to the war accompanied by a hostage deal harder to achieve. And for this reason, the UN General Assembly and the Netherlands are two birds of a feather, hindering the resolution of conflicts across the globe.
Ayoob Kara served as Israel's Minister of Communications, Cyber and Satellite under Netanyahu.
