A definition of this malady states: “moral bankruptcy is the stage a country or organization reaches when it trades away or violates too many of its core values and commitments.”

When I read this explanation I knew instinctively that here was a perfect description of exactly where the United Nations and many of its members now find themselves. As far as those countries for which democratic values and protection of human rights are unknown concepts, we can forget about any sort of moral conscience when it comes to voting against Israel.

However, in the case of New Zealand which voted in 1947 for the re-establishment of a Jewish State in British mandated Palestine it has been all downhill since then.

The last few weeks have witnessed yet another example of the moral decline of what was once intended to be a beacon of peace and freedom. Reconstituted from the ashes of a world war and failure of the League of Nations in preventing terror states from bullying their neighbours the post-war UN was intended to be everything its predecessor had not been. For a few short years, hope flickered and then gradually the slide into moral bankruptcy began. If democracies had acted at the beginning we would not now be faced with a body which has been taken over by political opportunists and morally degenerate members. Just as the democratic nations pre-war refused to stand up to their obligations and thus helped plunge the world into a catastrophic Holocaust so today’s supposed torchbearers of human rights have shamefacedly surrendered to the purveyors of slanders, lies and hate.

One would have thought that New Zealand might have been in the vanguard of those standing up for decency and truth. However, when it came to the crunch and Israel found itself the target of continual condemnatory resolutions New Zealand either voted with the immoral majority or abstained. Despite the obvious bias and unbalanced obsession against Israel at the UN on far too many occasions NZ has, by its voting record, joined those for whom Israel can never do anything right. This pattern of benign neglect is in stark contrast to Australia which to its credit has taken every opportunity in speaking out about the hypocritical double standards and voted accordingly.

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