New York – The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted six resolutions this month by large margins that were overwhelmingly critical of or hostile to Israel, despite claims and hopes by many that Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria and the forced evacuation of 10,000 Jews from their homes and businesses would lead to a new international atmosphere of support for Israel.

The UNGA adopted a resolution by a vote of 156 to 6 (including the United States) with 9 abstentions stressing the need for Israel’s withdrawal from the “Palestinian territories” occupied in 1967. A resolution declaring void all actions taken by Israel to extend its jurisdiction in Jerusalem was passed by a vote of 153 to 7 (including the United States) with 12 abstentions. Four further resolutions regarding support for the work of UN bodies devoted to furthering the Palestinian propaganda campaign — the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable rights of the Palestinian People, the Division for Palestinian Rights and the Department of Public Information’s Special Information Programme on Palestine — were also passed by similarly large majorities.

Despite some positive developments in recent months, such as the appointment of Israel’s U.N. Ambassador, Dan Gillerman, as one of the UNGA’s vice-presidents and the entry of Israel into a U.N. bloc, the West European and Others Group (WEOG), events at the U.N. have hardly been what some expected. Instead, a “Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” was attended by the U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, at which a “Map of Palestine” from which Israel had been expunged was prominently displayed behind the dais where the Secretary-General sat.

At the event, the master of ceremonies said, “I invite everyone present to rise and observe a minute of silence in memory of all those who have given their lives for the cause of the Palestinian people,” even though a substantial number of Palestinian fatalities in the past five years of the Palestinian terrorist war have been terrorists, suicide bombers, gunmen, snipers and bomb-makers. A U.N.-funded agency also produced mugs and coffee cups celebrating Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from Gaza with the banner, “Today Gaza, Tomorrow Jerusalem.”

In the meantime, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeated calls for Israel to be wiped off the map and Palestinian Authority (PA) chief Mahmoud Abbas has refused to condemn the terrorists groups attacking Israel or their intentions to kill Israelis, merely making statements like, “These attacks harm the Palestinian interest.” Incitement to hatred and murder of Israelis continues unabated in the PA, such as the accusation last month from the head of the PA drugs prevention program accusing Israel of attempting to supply drugs to Palestinian youth to create widespread addiction. This claim has been made continually by PA officials over the past six years.