When I was home in New York for spring break, I decided to buy some postcards of New York City to hang on my wall in school. In picking out my postcards, I immediately chose one of the United Nations. It is pictured as a tall, majestic building surrounded by flags of the many nations that make up this peace-promoting body. When looking at the postcard, I am flooded with all the words I have always associated with the United Nations: Peace, equality, an olive branch, etc. However, yesterday I tore this postcard off my wall. I tore it off my wall because I no longer believe in the United Nations. In fact, not only do I no longer believe in it, but I am thoroughly disgusted with the hypocrisy and downright anti-Semitism that the United Nations has exhibited. From the United Nations' beginnings in 1945, there has been an extreme anti-Semitic and anti-Israel United Nations undertone. Ironically, it was the United Nations that granted Israel its statehood in 1948. Yet, the United Nations, throughout Israel's short history, can be considered one of its greatest foes. Perhaps, the United Nations did not know what they were dealing with from the beginning. The Arab nations surrounding Israel vowed to never accept Israel's existence. Instead of working to find a solution to this situation, the UN Palestine Commission suggested nullifying the resolution of the General Assembly. As a result, when Israel declared its statehood, seven Arab Nations invaded it, and the United Nations did not help Israel protect itself.

Still, the United Nations continued to rebuke its support of Israel and, in a way, the Jewish people, with its infamous resolution equating Zionism to racism passed in 1975. To this day, it is inconceivable how an organization whose founding charter states one of its purposes as "promoting social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom" could believe that Zionism, a movement for freedom and social progress in the form of a homeland, could be considered even remotely similar to racism. As Israeli Ambassador Chaim Herzog pointed out in his speech arguing against this resolution, "To question the Jewish people's right to national existence and freedom is not only to deny to the Jewish people the right accorded to every other people on this globe, but it is also to deny the central precepts of the United Nations." Even more astonishing, it took over 15 years for the United Nations to admit its faults and finally revoke this resolution.

More recently, the United Nations has failed to shy away from their anti-Israel and anti-Semitic past. This past summer, it was discovered that the United Nations had in their possession a tape of the October 2000 kidnapping of three Israeli Soldiers by Hezbollah Guerillas. Not only did they withhold evidence of a criminal act, but they also lied about even having the tape for many months. And, when they finally did agree to turn it over to the Israeli government, it was an edited version of the original video with the identities of the perpetrators protected. If this is not blatantly anti-Israel, which may be an outgrowth of anti-Semitism, what is?

Furthermore, a United Nations sponsored international conference on racism was held in Durban, South Africa just this past September. The outcomes of this conference are appalling. Israel was depicted as being a racist, discriminatory state against the Arabs. I will not even go into the reasons why this is an absolutely reprehensible statement, but I will say that it can be proven that the Israelis have one of the most accepting and accommodating societies in the Middle East and even the world. There are several Arab members of the Israeli Government. But, as if this depiction was not enough, most Arab and Muslim leaders co-opted the conference and forced others not to participate. Even European countries that are not friends of the Jews pulled their delegations.

The United Nations had no response other than further chastisement of Israel. Secretary General Kofi Annan said, "You must end the illegal occupation. More urgently, you must stop the bombing of civilian areas, the assassinations, the use of lethal force, the demolitions and the daily humiliations of ordinary Palestinians. There was no mention of any Palestinian violence towards Israel. Annan chose to ignore the 400 plus Israelis killed in the suicide murders that have been proven to be financed by the Palestinian leadership and the 50 tons of weapons bought by the Palestinian leadership.

Keeping all this in mind, I have come to cringe at the mere mention of the United Nations and I do not see it improving in the near future. With 60 Muslim nations represented in the United Nations, and only one of these nations, Turkey, being a democracy, there is little hope that this supposed peace-promoting organization will ever cease from being anti-Semitic and hypocritical in their ways. How can they, when Syria, one of the most repressive countries in the world in terms of basic human rights, sits on the UN's Human Rights Panel? Or, with the United Nations rejecting offers of blood plasma from Israeli donors for victims in Jenin? They would rather wait for Jordanian blood than accept "Jewish blood." After hearing this, how could one logically point fingers at Israel for being the racist ones?

Understand, the point of this article is not to justify or reprimand Israel or the Palestinian's actions, but rather to show the complete bias the United Nations has had and continues to have regarding this conflict. Personally, I was unaware just how severe the bias is until some very recent inquiries. Since then, I have lost all respect for this organization that I looked up to with such hope for the future. In fact, when asked on a college application what job I would like to have one day, I responded that I dreamt of being on the UN Human Rights Commission. I have since lost this dream.

So, it should come as no surprise that once again the United Nations is looking to find Israel guilty of war crimes in the Jenin Refugee Camp. However, with the discouragement and refusal of the Israeli Government, Annan ordered that this mission be disbanded. It is important to note that the Israelis let over 250 reporters into Jenin and not one of these reporters found any evidence of massacre. Even the Palestinian leadership finally announced that only 52 bodies were found and all but seven were fighters. The issue is not dead though, and I am fairly certain that the United Nations, prodded by its member Arab nations, will do everything in its power to ignite this mission once again.

In the meantime, we, as Americans who believe in the concepts of inherent human rights, must take a stand against the United Nations. We must voice our disapproval of its hypocrisy and work to stop its bias towards certain nations and groups of people, be it Israel or any other nation or group in the world. After over 50 years of its existence, the United Nations must become the organization it was originally set up to be. After all, its potential to be a key promoter of world peace is still there, and the longer we wait, the more this world will suffer.