Why Israel’s Erdan wants to destroy the UN

Departing Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan clearly had an unpleasant experience at the world’s largest international institution. In an interview published in the Israeli newspaper Maariv last week, the disgruntled envoy said that “the UN building should be closed and wiped off the face of the Earth.”

Whether Erdan has made this realization or not, his aggressive statement indicates that his four-year spell as Israel’s top UN diplomat was a failure.

In the interview, Erdan expressed his wish to become the head of Likud, the right-wing party of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Erdan’s violent language could be his way of appealing to the right and far-right constituencies that feed on such violence. However, there is more to Erdan’s hatred for the UN than the mere frustration of a disappointed diplomat.

Israel has had a long and troubled history with the UN and its institutions. According to Israel’s political discourse, the UN is an “antisemitic” organization, a label Israelis often invoke when their country is subjected to even the slightest criticism.

Israel’s relationship with the UN is particularly odd because the country was created by a UN decision, which was itself a direct outcome of UN political intrigues and Western pressure.

The UN is the only platform that can constantly remind Israel, and the world, that Tel Aviv is an occupying power

Dr. Ramzy Baroud

On Nov. 29, 1947, the UN passed General Assembly Resolution 181, which called for the division of historic Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. It assigned most of the land, 56 percent, to the Jewish population, which was then a minority, and the rest to the Arab Palestinian natives.

Shortly afterward, Jewish Zionist leaders began a military campaign that conquered most of Palestine and ethnically cleansed most of its original population.

Israel was admitted as a full member of the UN on May 11, 1949, while native Palestinians remain stateless today. Though Israel’s admission to the international body was conditioned on the acceptance of Resolutions 181 and 194 — on the status of Jerusalem and the right of return of Palestinian refugees — Israel has been spared punishment for its violations of these and other resolutions thanks to the strong backing of the US and other Western powers.

In June 1967, the rest of historic Palestine was conquered. Again, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were ethnically cleansed and, ever since, the remaining Palestinians have lived under a draconian system of military occupation, apartheid, siege and a constant state of war.

The ongoing Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip is the culmination of all the injustices inflicted on the Palestinian people throughout the decades. The war did not start on Oct. 7, 2023, nor will it end when a ceasefire is finally declared.

Aside from the 1917 Balfour Declaration, in which Britain pledged to construct a Jewish state in historic Palestine, Resolution 181, which allowed the establishment of Israel, could arguably be considered the genesis of all Palestinian suffering.

Throughout this bloody, unjust history, the UN neither penalized Israel nor granted Palestinians their long overdue justice. It even failed to implement or enforce any of its subsequent resolutions recognizing the illegality of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Yet, Palestinians continue to resort to the UN, since it is the only international platform that can constantly remind Israel, and the world, that Tel Aviv is an occupying power and that international and humanitarian laws must apply to Palestinians as an occupied people.

These reminders have been made frequently in the past, at the UN General Assembly and even at the Security Council, always to the displeasure of Israel and its Western benefactors, particularly the US.

For Israel, the UN’s position is a major obstacle in the face of its blatant settler colonial project

Dr. Ramzy Baroud

The latest solid legal position was articulated through an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice on July 19. After the testimonies and interventions made by at least 52 countries and countless experts, the court resolved that “Israel’s occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, is unlawful, along with the associated settlement regime, annexation and use of natural resources.”

Although the UN has not been successful in forcing Israel to end its occupation, dismantle its illegal settlements or respect the basic human rights of Palestinians, the international institution remains a source of frustration for Israel.

Since its establishment on the ruins of Palestinian homes, Israel has worked to change the status of Palestine and Palestinian refugees and constantly challenged the term “occupation.” It has done its utmost to rewrite history, illegally annex Palestinian and Arab land and build illegal settlements to alter the permanent “facts on the ground.”

In 2017, it looked as if Israel had succeeded in its quest to cancel the Palestinian cause altogether, as Washington recognized Israel’s fraudulent claim to occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Golan Heights. Yet, the world did not follow suit, as demonstrated by the International Court of Justice’s recent ruling.

As far as the UN is concerned, Israel remains an occupying power, bound by international laws and norms.

Though, for Palestinians, such facts remain devoid of practical meaning, for Israel, the UN’s position is a major obstacle in the face of its blatant settler colonial project. And this is why Erdan wants the UN “wiped off the face of the Earth.”

Even if the angry Israeli diplomat gets his wish, nothing will alter this truth: Israel will remain a colonial regime, and Palestine will continue to resist, until justice is finally restored.

• Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and author. He is editor of The Palestine Chronicle and nonresident senior research fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs. His latest book, co-edited with Ilan Pappe, is “Our Vision for Liberation: Engaged Palestinian Leaders and Intellectuals Speak Out.” X: @RamzyBaroud