Recent UN resolutions against Israel do not stem from antisemitism, but from violations of international humanitarian law. Israel must substantively address the allegations against it.
On May 10th of this year, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution by an overwhelming majority to grant new “rights and privileges” to Palestine and called on the Security Council to reconsider Palestine’s request to become the 194th member of the UN. The UN approved the resolution in a 143-9 vote with 25 abstentions. The United States voted against the resolution, along with Israel, Argentina, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Papua New Guinea.
The resolution provided the Israeli government with another opportunity to delegitimize the entire UN institution and its decisions. The embarrassing theatrical shredding of the UN Charter in a miniature shredder by the Israeli ambassador certainly did not contribute to improving the country’s status or its relations with the UN.
The UN’s complex and tumultuous relations with Israel have been familiar to me since my childhood as the daughter of a senior diplomat. My father, Uri Lubrani, respected the UN. The first diplomatic mission he received, while still a 21-year-old student in London, was to secure the vote of the Philippines’ representative to the UN (the only Asian nation among the voters) in favor of the Partition Resolution (1947), which to this day remains the foundation for Israel’s existence as a member state of the UN. But like many of his generation, my father did not refrain from quoting Ben-Gurion’s dismissive term “Um Shmum” (UN-Schmun).
During my 26 years of work at the UN, I had countless opportunities to work with UN teams in different countries. The vast majority were dedicated to advancing the goals for which the UN exists: promoting human rights and equality, including equal opportunities for women, sustainable economic and social development, peace, reconciliation, and justice. The teams I worked with included many employees from countries considered enemies of Israel.
The World is Not Actually Against Us
Since October 7th, Israelis and Palestinians have experienced a brutal war that has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent people, including women and children, and left hundreds of thousands displaced in Israel and over a million displaced in Gaza. Even if there is room for criticism regarding word choice, timing, or the level of precision and balance in the statements of senior UN officials since October 7th, the great majority of the world’s countries, as well as the UN, condemned the Hamas attack and expressed solidarity and empathy with Israel following the massacre, rape, and abduction of Israelis to Gaza. These countries also continue to call for the release of the hostages.
The solidarity with Israel in the face of Hamas’s crimes on October 7th continues even among most of those same countries that are currently attacking Israel for its disproportionate response to the massacre, which caused the destruction of most vital infrastructure in the Strip, the killing of an estimated 30,000 Palestinians—most of them civilians not involved in the fighting—as well as more than 190 humanitarian workers, an unprecedented number.
Israel continues to ignore the call for a humanitarian ceasefire and an end to the fighting in Gaza, which has created one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises that is worsening day by day. Furthermore, the severe restrictions on the entry of urgent life-saving aid to the citizens of Gaza, and the failure of the IDF and the Israel Police to prevent violent attacks on incoming aid, are a grave violation of international humanitarian law. Further fueling international outrage are the sharp increase in lethal settler attacks on Palestinian communities in the West Bank, allegedly under the watch of military forces, as well as the silence of authorities in response to information about cases of prisoner torture resulting in death.
The Israeli dismissal of all international criticism and the categorical accusation that the UN is an anti-Israel organization are unjustified. These days, they are also possible because the Israeli public is hardly exposed to images and reports of the horrors of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Compared to the moving solidarity in the face of the loss and suffering of every individual and family affected by the events of October 7th, it is extremely sad that there is no room left for human compassion for even one story about a Gazan civilian or child caught in the war in Gaza.
Throughout history, the average Israeli has learned that the UN is an organization whose purpose for existence is to harm the State of Israel. In intergovernmental political arenas, the bias against Israel is related to the ongoing occupation that severely harms the rights of the Palestinian people. Anyone who concludes from this that all UN work is anti-Israel betrays a lack of understanding that the UN does not set policy; its employees are authorized to act solely on the basis of decisions made through bodies, committees, or governing boards of its constituent agencies, in most of which Israel is a partner. Furthermore, every UN employee is expected to promote the implementation of international treaties that Israel has signed. Fieldwork is also based on cooperation agreements and the priorities of the countries hosting the UN presence.
Mutual Distrust
Many of the challenges facing the international humanitarian operation in Gaza these days are ones I also experienced in leadership positions during crisis situations in other countries, including Ukraine and Kosovo; including the failure of parties to the conflict to protect civilians, which is a basic humanitarian imperative guiding all emergency actions in conflict zones. In the case of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in general and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in particular, it appears that these challenges are extreme: on the one hand, due to Israel’s rooted distrust in the UN, and on the other hand, due to the UN’s severe frustration with the lack of Israeli cooperation, including evading dialogue, taking steps, or taking responsibility for stopping and correcting blatant violations of humanitarian and international law.
One structural reason for Israeli distrust of the UN lies in the fact that the organization’s work in our region is carried out on the basis of an agreement with the Palestinian Authority to assist the population in the occupied territories. There is no parallel agreement for cooperation with Israel, which is a developed country. It is worth mentioning that many developed countries successfully host the headquarters of important UN agencies.
In any humanitarian crisis resulting from violent conflict and fighting that harms civilians, from Ukraine and Russia to Sudan, Ethiopia, Myanmar, and more, there is room to investigate grave offenses by all parties to the conflict. Israel has every right to demand justice for the crimes of October 7th, also while using international tools and bodies. At the same time, as a country that considers itself a democracy respecting the laws of international law, Israel cannot ignore the allegations against it. If international humanitarian law is supposed to bring justice to the world’s citizens, it is specifically democratic countries that should show full openness to cooperation on crime allegations, including independent investigations, taking steps to bring to justice and punish for crimes committed, drawing conclusions, and strengthening procedures, measures, and legislation to prevent their recurrence.
An example of such a change occurred in Ukraine: the successful long-term cooperation of the UN with the Ukrainian military led in December 2021 to a 26.2% decrease in the total number of civilian casualties in the conflict compared to 2020, and the lowest annual civilian losses were recorded throughout the entire period of the conflict since 2014 (prior to the Russian invasion).
Not a Single Woman to Speak Of
I am not claiming that the UN is a flawless organization. it is a large-scale, heavy, and cumbersome organization, with many agencies (some say too many). There are cases of poor management, organizational weaknesses of all kinds, as well as political pressure that leaks into professional work and sometimes harms the organization’s ability to function optimally and effectively.
My hope is to see Israel reshape its relations with the UN. Instead of sweepingly criticizing this institution and humiliating it, Israel should be open to cooperation and increasing its contribution to the UN’s work; both to learn and change, both to improve its international standing, but also to influence and improve the organization from within. A re-examination of Israel’s conduct toward the UN may increase the utilization of the organization’s agencies’ capabilities regarding the war in Gaza. The UN, for example, has much experience and skill in assisting and finding solutions for displaced persons, which could be of help to displaced persons not only in Gaza but also in Israel.
Reshaping the broken relationship is important for improving Israel’s international reputation, which these days has collapsed to the point of endangering national security. I have no doubt that there is room for many more Israelis in UN work in diverse fields. If Israel reshapes its relations with the organization, perhaps we will see more Israelis in senior positions in it in the future.
As someone who has dedicated herself to promoting equality and women’s leadership, including in matters of peace and security, I cannot help but note disappointment and anger that among the decision-makers on the moves of the war and the plan for the day after, or in the negotiations for the release of the hostages – there is not a single woman to speak of. The lack of representation of half the world’s population in these important decisions and processes is a disgrace not only to Israel. It is also a failure of all countries and parties involved and mediating, including the US, Egypt, Qatar, European countries, the Gulf, and others. This is an obstacle that the UN also shares. The absence of women’s representation in finding a solution to the severe crisis in Gaza, which has impacts on the Middle East and the entire world, is not just, is not efficient, and violates Security Council Resolution 1325 (from the year 2000) which mandates the integration of women in peace and security issues.
On May 20th, the Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague – a body that was indeed founded through a procedure within the UN but stands as an independent judicial body distinct from the UN – submitted a request to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials and Hamas leaders for the terror attack on October 7th and the war in Gaza. On June 7th, Israel was informed of the UN Secretary-General’s decision to add it to the “blacklist” of countries harming children in conflict zones. This was due to the harm to thousands of children in the context of the war in Gaza, but also due to the abuse of children by far-right activists in the territories and attacks on trucks transferring aid to Gaza. As expected, these developments added boiling oil to the bonfire of Israel’s accusations against the UN.
Alongside Israel’s full right as a UN member to defend itself, it must substantively address the allegations against it and show a willingness to cooperate, both with the International Court in The Hague and with the UN envoy for children and war zones, and comply with the international law it committed to respect. There is antisemitism in the world. Screaming that the entire international community is antisemitic is not a proper or sufficient defense, nor does it promote the eradication of antisemitism.
The writer served at the UN between 1998-2024. Among the positions she held: UN Coordinator for Development and Humanitarian Assistance in Ukraine as well as in Kosovo, Fiji, and nine other island nations, and in several senior positions in UN Women.
