A Quiet Yet Firm 'No'

Hillel Halkin at the New York Sun has a great article on the recent UN resolution condemning Holocasut denial: We Should Remember

Halkin concludes that South Africa did not 'abstain' as we had previously claimed. South Africa voted 'NO!'

Let's look at the numbers. The United Nations has in it 192 member states. Of these, 103 put their names on the Holocaust denial resolution as co-sponsors. Since this was in effect the only way of voting "yes" in a voteless procedure, this was how many "yes" votes there were. On the other hand, 10 members states of the United Nations, among them Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Zimbabwe, and Cambodia, instructed their delegates not to attend the session at all. Since this was in effect the only way of voting "no," this was how many "no" votes there were. This leaves 79 countries. Of these, the delegates of three registered as arriving late, while the delegates of 76 others, among them China, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Yemen, simply sat there while the resolution was declared adopted. Since this was in effect the only way of abstaining, this was how many abstentions there were.

Previous IAS coverage:
- South Africa fails to back UN resolution on Holocaust denial
- South African UN mission responds
- Holocaust survivor: "People of goodwill supported the resolution"

Comments

[Steve]

Calling the South African vote a "No" is perhaps somewhat harsh since Halkin should remember that Irans public disassociation from the resolution was the only real no - and so not attending was not the only real way of voting No. I believe that we abstained.

[Gary Selikow]

Well, ther point is South Africa could not bring themselves to vote against Iran.
They are quite hapy to condemmn democracies like Israel, the USA, the UK and Australia, but never even the mildest censure of criminal totalitarian regimes like North Korea, Red China, Vietnam, Mynamar, Iran, Sria, LIbya, Sudan, Cuba or Zimbabwe.

[vacations]

Good stuff, It might just work, although it seems easier when you have a plan.