Consensus on the “Establishment of a Nuclear Weapon Free Zone in the Region of the Middle East” resolution at the UN General Assembly is broken

The resolution which had been adopted annually by consensus in the First Committee and UNGA since 1980 is put to a vote by Israel. The resolution was adopted by 171 in favour of the resolution, 2 against (Israel and the US), and 5 abstained. In its explanation of vote, Israel linked its change in vote to the Arab Group “imposing a new unilateral and destructive resolution entitled “Convening a Conference on the Establishment of a Middle East Zone Free of Nuclear Weapons and Other Weapons of Mass Destruction”. The US explained that despite continuing to support the ME WMDFZ, they voted against the resolution because it could not “[turn] a blind eye to the extremely unconstructive efforts of its sponsors, and others in the Group of Arab States, to advance a separate draft decision, A/C.1/73/L.22/Rev.1, which would abandon the cooperative, consensus-based principles that draft resolution A/C.1/73/L.1 claims to endorse in favour of coercive solutions intentionally designed to isolate rather than engage.”

Photo credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe

Danny Danon, Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations, speaks during the General Assembly meeting on the situation in the Middle East. December 06, 2018