Bush Defends Israel At UN

Bush to UN: World must free itself from tyranny, violence

25 September 2007

Speaking before UN's General Assembly, US president calls on world nations to stop slamming Israel for violating human rights, support budding democracies

by Yitzhak Benhorin

NEW YORK - US President George W Bush spoke before the United Nation's General Assembly Tuesday and called on its members to stop treating Israel as if it was the only country where human rights were not fully observed.

Bush's speech before the 62nd assembly revolved mainly around the worldwide abuse of human rights and the world's need to free itself from tyranny and violence

Naming Myanmar, Darfur, Cuba and Zimbabwe as some of the nations most at fault for abusing human rights, Bush announced new US sanctions against Myanmar's military rulers.

"The United States will tighten economic sanctions on the leaders of the regime and their financial backers," said Bush, adding that Americans were "outraged" by rights abuses in Myanmar.

Bush went on to criticize the UN human rights commission for failing to allocate the resources needed to deal with human rights violations around the world, and opting instead to mostly slam Israel for such violations.

The best way to defeat terror is to beat the terrorists' ideology through realizing a vision of freedom, said Bush, calling on the world's nations to support the moderate forces in the Palestinian Authority.

"The United States must support these moderate leaders, so we may see two nations living side by side in peace," he said, adding the nations must also show their support to the world's budding democracies – Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan.

The United Nation's General Assembly also saw the two great opponents – George W Bush and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad enter the UN Manhattan building, with both parties going out of their way to avoid a chance encounter.

Surprisingly, Bush's speech said nothing about Ahmadinejad or his visit to the US. Sources close to President Bush said he believed the Iranian president's visit was getting too much media attention as it is and that he saw no need to add to that.

Bush UN Speech (Multimedia):

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