The US voted against the United Nations’ $3.2 billion budget for 2021, citing disagreements over the world body’s support of an event the US ambassador said was anti-Israeli and the lack of a mechanism to monitor Iran’s weapon systems, according to a report on Thursday.
“Today this body is poised to adopt a budget that reflects such an accommodation that extends a shameful legacy of hate, anti-Semitism, and anti-Israel bias,” U.N. Ambassador Kelly Craft said.
“The United States rejects this effort and called for this vote to make clear that we stand by our principles, stand up for what is right, and never accept consensus for consensus’ sake.”
Craft said the Trump administration opposed funding for an event commemorating the 20th anniversary of a UN conference in Durban, South Africa, in which the US and Israeli delegations walked out because of anti-Israel discrimination.
A declaration from the 2001 event described Palestinians as being “under foreign occupation.”
“Twenty years on, there remains nothing about the Durban Declaration to celebrate or to endorse,” Craft said. “It is poisoned by anti-Semitism and anti-Israel bias. It encourages restrictions on the freedom of expression. It exists to divide and discriminate and runs contrary to the laudable goal of combating racism and racial discrimination.”
