Britain launched a “world wide lobbying exercise” to overturn a landmark United Nations (UN) resolution which recognised Zionism as racism, declassified files reveal.

The information is in a private exchange between John Major’s foreign secretary Douglas Hurd and pro-Israel lobbyist Sir Trevor Chinn in 1992.

Weeks earlier, the UN General Assembly had voted to revoke Resolution 3379 which designated Zionism as a form of “racism and racial discrimination”.

That motion , passed in 1975, condemned “apartheid and racial discrimination in all its forms” as well as the “unholy alliance” between apartheid South Africa and Zionism.

It was backed by the Soviet Union, former colonies, non-aligned states, and the Arab world, with 72 countries voting in favour and 35 including Britain against (with 32 abstentions).

In private correspondence with Chinn, dated 8 January 1992, Hurd lambasted the resolution, declaring how it “besmirched the name of the United Nations”.

The foreign secretary added: “We had no hesitation in co-sponsoring the repealing resolution and in mounting a world wide lobbying exercise”.

The effort to repeal the motion had also been strongly backed by the US government, and ended with 111 votes in favour, 25 against, and 13 abstentions.

“The result – although not perfect – was a very good one”, Hurd concluded.

The revelation comes after the Green Party voted last week to recognise Zionism as racism, with much of the media commentary overlooking that this was once the position of the UN.

‘Appreciation’

Sir Trevor Chinn, a decades-long supporter of the Friends of Israel parliamentary groups in Britain, was highly appreciative of the UK government’s efforts.

“I felt I should write at this time to express… appreciation… for the role that the Government have [sic] played this week in the United Nations as one of the leading sponsors for the repeal of the resolution equating Zionism with Racism”, he told Hurd.

“The original resolution in 1975 lowered the standing of the United Nations, particularly in regard to its role in the Middle East. This aberration has been corrected”, Chinn added.

Stuart Polak, another leading lobbyist for Israel and then the director of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI), also passed on his appreciation to Hurd.

“Thank you and others at the Foreign Office for the positive lead taken in ensuring the annulment”, he said.

Polak, who remains the honorary president of CFI, added: “It was a resolution that did nothing for the chances of peace and did no credit to the U.N. itself”.

‘Propitious circumstances’

By the time of its revocation, the UN resolution had been a thorn in the side of the Israeli government for over 15 years.

Chaim Herzog, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, had even stood from the UN podium in 1975 and tore up a copy of it, saying it was based on “hatred, falsehood and arrogance”.

By 1991, the Israeli government was insisting that the resolution had to be revoked as a precondition for peace negotiations with the Palestinian Liberation Organisation.

However, support from Britain was not immediately forthcoming.

Documents unearthed by Middle East Monitor showed how the UK government initially urged Washington to delay efforts to revoke it.

A failed attempt “could embarrass moderate Arab states like Egypt and Jordan” while the likes of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Muammar Qaddafi in Libya “would probably have a field day appealing to the Arab popular opinion”, a British diplomat noted in 1990.

Guaranteed success “must probably await more propitious political circumstances”, it was noted.

The George H.W. Bush administration was far less patient, with one British official privately accusing his vice president Dan Quayle of trying to promote an initiative “which would go down well with the Jewish audience in New York” and appeal “to Zionist feeling”.

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