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A laborer sanitizes the stones of the Western Wall as part of measures to prevent the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Jerusalem’s Old City, March 31, 2020. Photo: Reuters / Ammar Awad.
A United Nations resolution co-sponsored by Israel to direct the global organization’s response to the coronavirus pandemic passed in the General Assembly on Thursday night.
The resolution called on the UN to intensify “international cooperation to contain, mitigate and defeat the pandemic” by “exchanging information, scientific knowledge and best practices.”
It reaffirmed the General Assembly’s commitment to international cooperation and multilateralism, and called upon Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN system to “work with all relevant actors in order to mobilize a coordinated global response to the pandemic and its adverse social, economic and financial impact on all societies.”
Israel’s UN envoy, Danny Danon, welcomed the resolution’s approval, stating that “in this time of global crisis, we need global leadership. We need to be sharing information and best practices to ensure that all populations receive the resources they need.”
Danon highlighted the lack of transparency among authoritarian regimes in their response to the crisis.
“It is important for all countries to be transparent and to ensure that humanitarian aid and assistance gets to the medical professionals and those afflicted by the virus,” Danon asserted. “When this pandemic passes, Israel and the world will remember which governments helped their people in their time of need, and which, like the regime in Tehran, lied and stole resources.”
Danon also responded on Thursday to a letter sent to the UN Security Council by the Palestinian Authority (PA) earlier this week that accused Israel of hampering the PA’s efforts to combat the spread of the coronavirus in PA territory and exploiting the emergency situation to demolish Palestinian homes and expand settlements.
“Even during an international crisis, the Palestinians are unable to break free from their repetitive and baseless complaints,” Danon said. “The contempt they have for the truth and how to address a crisis situation is unparalleled. With one hand, they receive Israeli aid to curb the coronavirus in PA territory, and with the other they continue to make false allegations against Israel at the United Nations.”
Danon concluded that “those who exploit this crisis to condemn the soldiers of the IDF must be ashamed.”