The United Nations hosted a panel Thursday marking the 15th anniversary of the repeal of a 1975 resolution denigrating Zionism as racism. The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations also convened a lunchtime commemoration of the December 1991 repeal, honoring efforts — ultimately unsuccessful — by the late U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Israeli President Chaim Herzog to block the 1975 resolution. Earlier in the day, Israel’s U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, took part in a panel discussion organized by the U.N. Department of Public Information. Gillerman called the 1975 resolution “an obvious nail in the coffin” of Israel’s relationship with the United Nations, setting in motion a campaign of demonization of Israel that continues to this day. In a statement, Conference of Presidents Chairman Harold Tanner and Executive Vice Chairman Malcolm Hoenlein hailed the United Nations for marking the repeal. “Israel and Zionism face continuing attempts to denigrate them,” they said. “We are especially pleased that this event was under official U.N. auspices, reminding those who seek to perpetrate this travesty that the world community rejects it.”
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