UN General Assembly
1968

71. Mr. President, Israel sincerely welcomes your election to the Presidency of this General Assembly. Your elevation to this office does honour to Guatemala and to the entire family of the American Republics. It is also a well-deserved tribute to your eminent personal qualities which have so often been put to the service of the United Nations. You follow in the footsteps of our colleague, Mr. Corneliu Manescu, the Foreign Minister of Romania, who directed our work with high distinction and energy during the last session. 72. The world scene today is remarkable for a multiplicity of grave issues and for the marginal role of the United Nations in their solution. Since we last met, the peace of Europe has been shaken by the Soviet military occupation of Czechoslovakia. The invasion was openly designed to prevent a Member State from freely following a peaceful course in pursuit of its sovereign rights. Thirty years after the political settlement at Munich, we see the darkness fall again upon the Czechoslovak nation.