UN Calls to Boycott Israel and Institute Arms Embargo

Latest Developments

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a non-binding resolution on September 18 calling for Israel to withdraw unconditionally from the West Bank, Gaza, and eastern Jerusalem within 12 months. The measure, which endorsed a July 19 International Court of Justice (ICJ) advisory opinion that determined that Israel’s presence in the disputed territories is illegal, passed with 124 votes in favor, 14 against, and 43 abstentions. The United States, Argentina, Hungary, and Czechia were among the notable no votes. France, Ireland, Norway, and Spain joined Russia, China, Iran, and Syria to vote in favor.

Expert Analysis

“The UN resolution is a gift to Hamas. It ignores Israeli security concerns and adopts maximalist Palestinian positions. This distortion of reality is necessary to justify the General Assembly’s call for a boycott of and arms embargo on the world’s only Jewish state.” — David May, FDD Research Manager and Senior Research Analyst

“The UN General Assembly rescinded its notorious 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism in 1991, but it behaves as though that libelous determination is still on its books. Some of the world’s worst abusers of human rights voted for this latest resolution, underlining that the United Nations remains a forum for attacking the world’s only Jewish state while ignoring real and egregious crimes elsewhere in the world.” — Ben Cohen, FDD Senior Analyst and Rapid Response Manager

U.S. Ambassador Condemns Resolution

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield called the measure a “one-sided resolution that … fails to acknowledge, among other things, that Hamas, a terrorist organization, is currently exerting power, control, and influence in Gaza.” Thomas-Greenfield also lamented that the resolution ignores Israel’s “right to protect and defend its people from acts of terror or violence.”

One-Sided Resolution Calls for Arms Embargo and Boycotts of Israel

The resolution, which made no mention of Hamas, its October 7 massacre, or ongoing attacks from Hezbollah, called for countries not to transfer “arms, munitions and related equipment to Israel” if they may be used in the West Bank, Gaza, or eastern Jerusalem. This would weaken the Israeli military as it fights a seven-front war initiated by Iran and its proxies.

The resolution also calls for countries to “implement sanctions, including travel bans and asset freezes” and to prevent “trade or investment relations” that would aid Israel’s presence in the disputed territories.

The resolution declared that the Palestinians have a “right to an independent and sovereign State, over the entirety of” the West Bank, Gaza, and eastern Jerusalem. The disputed territories are the byproducts of armistice lines — not political borders — drawn in 1949 to conclude a war that neighboring Arab countries launched to annihilate the nascent State of Israel. Declaring that the entirety of the disputed territory belongs to the Palestinians prejudges the outcome of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations — if they ever resume.

Related Analysis

“ICJ Delivers Biased Ruling Against Israel on West Bank and Jerusalem,” FDD Flash Brief

“UN Rapporteurs Call for Arms Embargo on Israel,” FDD Flash Brief

“UN Equates Israel With Hamas in ‘Children in Armed Conflict’ Blacklist,” FDD Flash Brief