UN goes two ways on Israel

The United Nations’ Human Development Index released last week names Israel among the top 20 best places to live in the world, based on life expectancy, education, and income.

Israel was ranked 18th out of 188, just behind the UK.  When you consider that Israel is a Westernized country, it isn’t surprising that it made the top 20. But, alas, Israel is located smack dab in the Middle East, surrounded by countries that occupy the bottom of the list.

{mosads}Just this year, Libya dropped 27 places, while Syria dropped 15 places and is now rated 134th.

Next door, the “State of Palestine” is ranked 113th.  The only surprise is that the UN labeled it a “state,” while Israel is not referred to as the “State of Israel” but simply “Israel.”  But I digress.

What accounts for this disparity in Human Development in the Middle East? Although Israel is small, the country has many more resources than its neighbors. Most important, it allows its citizens freedom and equality, which clearly support human development.

Such freedom extends to women, racial minorities, and the LGBTQ community. On the other hand, women, non-Arabs, and LGBTQ folks in Middle Eastern countries other than Israel can only dream about a social and legal system that protects their civil rights.

So why does the UN consistently single out Israel for human rights violations when its own study confirms the freedom and equality its citizens enjoy? The UN would likely blame Israel for holding back “the State of Palestine” from achieving a higher index. But the facts simply don’t bear this out.

In Gaza, homosexuality is illegal and in the West Bank, LGBTQ rights are not protected. Under Hamas rule, women must wear headscarves when entering government buildings, and in 2010, women were banned from smoking hookah in public to “reduce the increasing divorce rate.” Christians are often discriminated against. Palestinian “freedom fighters” often use Palestinian children and bystanders as human shields. Most obviously, none of these human rights violations can be attributed to Israel.

And yet, the UN constantly singles out Israel for human rights violations. During the November 24 UN General Assembly, six non-binding resolutions were drafted by the Palestinians and by Syria—each singled out Israel. Put aside the hilarious albeit sad fact that Syria was the one condemning human rights violations—the fact remains that none of the resolutions against human rights violations criticized China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, or even ISIS.

By the UN’s own admission, Israel is a partner for human development, freedom, and equality. The incongruity of Israel’s status as the 20^th best country in the world to live in –while also the country that is most unfairly singled out for human rights violations – is a dead giveaway of the hypocrisy of the United Nations.

Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, responded to the November 24 vote saying, “The U.N.’s disproportionate assault against the Jewish state undermines the institutional credibility of what is supposed to be an impartial international body, and exposes the sores of politicization and selectivity that eat away at its founding mission, eroding the U.N. Charter’s promise of equal treatment to all nations large and small.”

How would the Human Development Index rate the United Nations?  

Rudee is a Jerusalem-based fellow with the Haym Salomon Center and the author of the “Aliyah Annotated” column for JNS.org. She is a graduate of Scripps College, where she studied international relations and Jewish studies. Her bylines have been featured in USA Today, Forbes, and The Hill. Follow her column on JNS.org.