September 30, 2005
Changing the anti-Israel bias at the United Nations (UN) required “continued vigilance”, John Bolton, the American ambassador to the UN, has told lawmakers in the US Congress. Testifying at a session of the House of Representatives’ International Relations Committee, Bolton said there was some improvement in UN attitudes, but bias against the Jewish state remained an issue. “It’s a fact. There are a number of things that we need to do on that score,” Bolton said. “It will require continuing vigilance.” Bolton said some countries at the UN wanted to raise the issue of Israel’s presence in the Shebaa Farms, a tiny patch of land on the Israel-Lebanon border controlled by Israel under UN certification. The radical Lebanese group Hezbollah has used Israel’s presence in the Shebaa Farms to continue its attacks since Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000, but the United Nations examined Lebanon’s claim to the area and found it baseless.
