The Nixon regime, with one eye on the autumn 1972 elections and the need to mobilize
the Zionist lobby in support of Tricky Dick's second term, wanted to find a way to oppose
this resolution, since it did not sufficiently acknowledge the unique righteousness of the
Israeli cause and Israel's inherent right to commit acts of war against its neighbors. It was
Bush who authored a competing resolution which called on all interested parties "to take
all measures for the immediate cessation and prevention of all military operations and
terrorist activities." It was Bush who dished up the rationalizations for US rejection of the
first resolution. That resolution was no good because it did not reflect the fact that "the
fabric of violence in the Middle East in inextricably interwoven with the massacre in
Munich," Bush argued. 'By our silence on the terror in Munich are we indeed inviting
more Munichs?," he asked. Justifying the Israeli air raids on Syria and Lebanon, Bush
maintained that certain governments "cannot be absolved of responsibility for the cycle
of violence" because of their words and deeds, or because of their tacit acquiescence.
Slightly later, after the vote had taken place, Bush argued that "by adopting this
resolution, the council would have ignored reality, would have spoken to one form of
violence but not another, would have looked to the effect but not the cause."
When the resolution was put to a vote, Bush made front-page headlines around the world
by casting the US veto, a veto that had been cast only once before in the entire history of
the UN. The vote was 13 to 1, with the US casting the sole negative vote. Panama was
the lone abstention. The only other time the US veto had been used had been in 1970, on
a resolution involving Rhodesia.
The Israeli UN ambassador Yosef Tekoah did not attend the debate because of the Jewish
holiday of Rosh Hashanah. But Israel's cause was well defended--by Bush. According to
an Israeli journalist observing the proceedings who was quoted by the Washington Post,
"Bush sounds more pro-Israeli than Tekoah would have." [fn 24]
Later in 1972, attempts were made by non-aligned states and the UN Secretariat to
arrange the indispensable basis for a Middle East pesce settlement-- the withdrawal of
Israel from the territories occupied during the 1967 war. Once again, Bush was more
Zionist than the Israelis.
In Februaty of 1972, the UN's Middle East mediator, Gunnar Jarring of Norway, had
asked that the Security Council reaffirm the original contents of resolution 242 of 1967
by reiterating that Israel should surrender Arab territory seized in 1967. "Land for peace"
was anathema to the Israeli government then as now. Bush undertook to blunt this non-
alligned peace bid.
Late in 1972 the non-aligned group proposed a resolution in the General Assembly which
called for "immediate and unconditional" Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories
while inviting other countries to withold assistance that would help Israel to sustain its
occupation of the Arab land. Bush quickly rose to assail this text.
In a speech to the General Assembly in December 1972, Bush warned the assembly that
the original text of resolution 242 was "the essential agreed basis for UN peace efforts