On this day in 1975, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution (by vote of 72 to 35) that dubbed Zionism as a form of racism and racial discrimination. The initiative was sponsored by twenty five Middle-Eastern and African countries that were politically backed by the Soviet Union. 

The Arab, African, and Soviet coalition sought to delegitimize Israel (and by association the United States) on the world stage. Some allege that it was their ultimate goal to have Israel expelled from the United Nations and replaced by the Palestine Liberation Organization. 

On the same day, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Chaim Herzog (who went on to be Israel's 6th president) summed up the resolution with these words: "For us, the Jewish people, this resolution based on hatred, falsehood and arrogance, is devoid of any moral or legal value. For us, the Jewish people, this is no more than a piece of paper and we shall treat it as such." After his speech, Herzog held up the resolution and ripped it in half.

Sixteen years later in 1991, the resolution was revoked.

This resolution was merely another episode in the long history of anti-Israel bias at the United Nations, a bias that was confirmed by current UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his predecessor Kofi Annan.

Since its formation in 2006, the United Nation Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has issued more condemnations against Israel than all other countries combined. In addition, at the UNHRC’s tri-yearly session where they discuss the top 10 items facing human rights, Israel has the only permanent spot at Agenda Item 7.