GIlad Erdan, Israel’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, had already criticized UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres this week. This shows understanding for the mass murder of children, women and the elderly, Erdan wrote on the X platform on Tuesday. Guterres had linked Hamas’ violence with Israel’s occupation, but expressly condemned the crimes against civilians.
Two days later, in the emergency session of the UN General Assembly, Erdan struck a major blow against the organization. The UN is celebrating its 78th birthday this week, said the Permanent Representative. “But when you look at this resolution and the guests of honor who are being welcomed here today, this organization has shown that it is so broken, that it is so morally corrupt, that I don’t have high hopes for a 90th or even 100th anniversary. Anniversary.”
The reason for the meeting and also for Erdan’s extraordinary outburst despite always tense relations was a draft resolution that Jordan and other Arab states want to present on Friday. It calls for a ceasefire and unrestricted access to humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip. A version published on Platform X refers to Israel as an “occupying power”. Israel’s right to self-defense is not mentioned.
Footage of a beheading is shown
A few minutes before the fundamental criticism of the UN, Erdan had shown a video on his tablet: footage of the beheading of a Thai farm worker with a shovel by Hamas. “He was not Israeli, he was not Jewish,” the permanent representative said. Israel is “not at war with people, but with monsters.” They are bent on exterminating every single Jew. It is unbelievable that the emergency meeting is not focused exclusively on the atrocities of Hamas, but on this “absurd” resolution. The authors claimed that they were concerned with peace. “But the depraved murderers who started this war are not even mentioned in the resolution – not even mentioned!” The paper is an “insult to the intelligence” of the UN members.
Presenting the draft resolution in the General Assembly is a kind of stopgap measure that was already used in the case of the Ukraine war. Even then, the most powerful body, the UN Security Council, could not agree on a document that called for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and a withdrawal of Russian troops – Moscow blocked the resolution with its veto. A similar paper was finally passed in the general assembly. A two-thirds majority is sufficient for this, and no country has a right of veto; However, the resolution is not binding under international law.
In the case of Israel and the Gaza Strip, two drafts dealing with the situation in Israel and Gaza failed in the Security Council in recent days. The American proposal failed because of the veto of Russia and China. Great Britain and the USA, in turn, rejected a resolution presented by Russia, but it did not find a majority among the other members anyway. Malta says it plans to draw up a new draft. By then, the draft resolution in the General Assembly could become the first at least primarily unified response by UN members to the war in the Middle East. The vote was initially expected to take place on Friday, but because of the lengthy speeches on Thursday, a delay over the weekend seemed possible.
Palestinian UN representative Riyad Mansour spoke less about the resolution in his speech on Thursday. Mansour particularly highlighted the “crimes against the civilian population” in the Gaza Strip and said there was “no safe place” left in Gaza. It is a “humanitarian disaster caused by humans”. Mansour then referred to the Israeli foreign minister’s statement to the Security Council this week. He talked about bringing all the Israeli hostages home. “But millions of Palestinians have no place to return to.” Israel believes that the laws of human order and international law apply to others, “but not to those who protect Israeli lives.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian used his appearance at the United Nations to launch the expected frontal attack on Israel. The international community has been witnessing “the war crimes and genocide of the Israeli occupation regime” for three weeks. The United States called on Iranians to “stop supporting the genocide.” Although they don’t want the war to expand in the region, “but I’m warning them. “If the genocide in Gaza continues, America will not be spared from this fire.” When it comes to the security of the region, Iran knows nothing.
#Israel #representative #takes #stock #broken #morally #corrupt