Repealing a Resolution of Hate

President Bush has taken a calculated political risk in calling on the U.N. General Assembly to repeal its notorious 1975 anti-Israel resolution describing Zionism as “a form of racism and racial discrimination.” The risk is twofold.

One involves the chance that a resolution of repeal, though it seems sure to pass, might do so by such a small margin as to leave in doubt whether the United Nations as an organization had in fact acted to erase an infamous paragraph in its history. The other element of risk involves timing. With the United States struggling to bring Israel and a number of Arab countries together at a peace conference, is this the best moment to seek to revoke a resolution that many Arabs regard as one of their great U.N. diplomatic achievements?

The answer to that is yes, the time is right. As Bush reminded everyone in his speech Monday to the General Assembly, the effort to equate Zionism with racism was an effort “to reject Israel itself,” i.e., to deny it political legitimacy. Now some of the same Arab states that lobbied so vigorously for the 1975 resolution are mulling peace negotiations with Israel. Either those states are ready to accept Israel’s legitimacy or they are not, in which case a peace conference seems irrelevant. Their reaction to the call for repeal will be a sign.

The anti-Zionism resolution of 16 years ago drew 72 votes, a few over half of the total U.N. membership. Supporters included the entire Soviet bloc and many Third World states, some of whose votes may have been influenced by Arab promises to help offset the soaring energy costs put in motion by the 1973-74 Arab oil boycott. Indications now are that the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and many Third World states would join with the democracies to approve repeal. It goes without saying that the move to undo this immoral, hate-inspired resolution deserves the broadest support.