Mr. Chairman, although I believe in the values and principles expressed in the United Nations Charter, the organization has been hijacked by some member states who have betrayed those values. The use of blood libels by representatives of member states in official U.N. reports and by NGOs is unacceptable.

It is time to do more to press the U.N. to reform. It is not enough to criticize the U.N. and to denounce its institutional anti-Semitism. Slandering the Jewish people, their aspirations for self-determination, and their homeland is unacceptable. Excluding Israel, a member state, from the community of nations because of ancient hatreds and slanders is unworthy of an organization founded to promote world peace and end human suffering.

No other nation would be denounced for taking steps to protect its citizens from acts of terror aimed intentionally at civilians. No nation has exercised as much restraint as Israel, yet no nation has been subjected to so much condemnation, indeed vilification and demonization, including those countries that practice slavery, torture, and genocide, some of whom have been privileged to sit on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, a right denied to Israel in the more than half a century it has been a member.

The U.N. is capable of good and important work in the eradication of disease, in alleviating poverty, in averting genocide, in peacekeeping. It can and should do more, but it can never live up to its potential and its mission unless it sheds the stain of anti-Semitism.

For these reasons, the United Nations critically needs to be reformed. Yet, some commands for change, including several provisions in the Hyde bill, are counterproductive and unwise.

Specifically I cannot support the Hyde bill provision that mandates cutting in half U.S. payments to the U.N. unless the U.N. adopts 39 specific reforms, many of which cannot conceivably be adopted because they require unanimous consent from all 191 member states, including Syria, Iran, and North Korea.

The Hyde bill would halt funding for peacekeeping missions, endangering vital new or expanded U.N. operations in Darfur and Haiti, and ignoring the possibility of future crises that may demand international intervention is such places as Iran or Syria.

The Lantos substitute recommends reforms that will make the U.N. more fair and effective, but it avoids the rigid and draconian approach that makes the Hyde bill both unreasonable and potentially dangerous, so I urge adoption of the Lantos substitute.

Mr. Chairman, although I believe in the values and principles expressed in the United Nations Charter, the organization has been hijacked by some member states who have betrayed these values. The use of blood libels by representatives of member states, in official U.N. reports, and by NGOs, is unacceptable and clearly evidence that the United Nations needs to be reformed.

I believe it is time for the United States to do more to press the U.N. to reform. It is not enough to criticize the U.N. It is not enough to denounce the U.N.'s institutional anti-Semitism.

Slandering the Jewish people, their aspirations for self-determination, and their homeland, is unacceptable. Excluding Israel, a member state, from the community of nations because of ancient hatreds and slanders is unworthy of an organization founded to promote world peace and end human suffering.

No other nation would be denounced for taking steps to protect its citizens from acts of terror aimed intentionally at civilians. No nation has exercised as much restraint as Israel, yet no nation has been subjected to so much condemnation, indeed vilification and demonization, including those countries that practice slavery, torture, and genocide, some of whom have been privileged to sit on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights--a right denied to Israel in the more than half-century it has been a member.

The U.N. is capable of good and important work, in the eradication of disease, in alleviating poverty, in averting genocide, in peacekeeping. It can and should do more, but it can never live up to its potential and its mission unless it sheds the stain of anti-Semitism.

For these reasons, the United Nations critically needs to be reformed. Yet, some demands for change--including several provisions in the Hyde bill--are counterproductive and unwise.

Specifically, I cannot support the Hyde bill provision that mandates cutting in half United States payments to the U.N. unless the U.N. adopts 38 specific reforms--many of which cannot conceivably be adopted because they require unanimous consent from all 191 memberstates, including Syria, Iran, and North Korea.

The Hyde bill would also halt funding for peacekeeping missions, endangering vital new or expanded U.N. operations in Darfur and Haiti, and ignoring the possibility of future crises that may demand international intervention in such places as Iran or Syria.

The Democratic substitute, offered by my colleague and good friend from California Mr. LANTOS, which authorizes the Secretary of State to use her discretion in withholding funds to promote adoption of the reforms we seek, is far preferable. The Lantos substitute recommend reforms that will make the U.N. more fair and effective, but it avoids the rigid, draconian, automatic approach that makes the Hyde bill both unreasonable and dangerous.