Euroasian Jewish News

Statement of the Presidium of the Vaad of Ukraine

On December 7, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution A/RES/75/84 “The Danger of Nuclear Proliferation in the Middle East”. Among other things, the text of the Resolution calls on the State of Israel "not to develop, produce, test or otherwise acquire nuclear weapons, to renounce the possession of nuclear weapons."

The delegation of Ukraine voted IN FAVOUR of this Resolution, joining countries such as the Russian Federation, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Pakistan and the Syrian Arab Republic. Many of the countries that supported the document themselves possess nuclear weapons are involved in active armed conflict with their neighbors and threaten regional and global security. Among the authors of the resolution are countries such as Sudan, Somalia, and Libya. In the meantime, the United States and Canada voted AGAINST this resolution.

The vote of the Ukrainian delegation causes bewilderment and indignation. The Vaad of Ukraine would like to receive an explanation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the President of Ukraine, how it came to pass that our delegation opposed Israel and its allies from among the democratic Western countries, and supported authoritarian regimes, including Russia, which has been carrying out aggression against our country for the last seven years.

The State of Israel is actively developing friendly and partner relations with Ukraine. In recent years, the Israeli delegation has consistently supported the Ukrainian position in all votes in the UN General Assembly. Thus, only on the same day of December 7, the Israeli delegation voted in favour of the resolution initiated by Ukraine “The Problem of the Militarization of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as Parts of the Black and Azov Seas”. It is completely incomprehensible why Ukraine decided in gratitude to support Israel's opponents, including countries that do not recognize the Jewish state and officially proclaim the need for its destruction.

We are aware that the UN as a whole considers a good form to support the policy of limiting nuclear arms proliferation. The creation of a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East has been discussed in the General Assembly for the past quarter of a century. Many countries friendly to Israel did not find it possible to vote "against" this resolution, however among those who abstained were Australia, Hungary, Germany, Georgia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, France, Estonia, Ethiopia, and others.

Support for a resolution calling for the nuclear disarmament of a country facing a direct and obvious threat from aggressive neighbors, tens of times larger than it in area and population, is particularly astonishing in the case of Ukraine. Our country renounced nuclear weapons in exchange for international "promises" of state sovereignty and territorial integrity - and was soon subjected to armed aggression by one of the "guarantors". It is our country, by its own example, that could realize the real consequences of implementing such irresponsible ideas in practice. It would seem that it would be logical and understandable for the Ukrainian delegation to vote against this resolution, even if no other country in the world objected. In this context, Ukraine's support for this resolution is completely beyond logical understanding.

The Vaad of Ukraine is awaiting an explanation from the country's foreign policy department and expresses the hope that such unfriendly actions towards our partners and allies will never be repeated on any international platform.

Presidium of the Vaad of Ukraine                       

Kyiv, December 27, 2020