In 2021, while I served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, the UN General Assembly adopted a series of resolutions against Israel. A year later, in 2022, when I was prime minister, the general meeting indicated a series of resolutions against Israel.
Nobody cared about it. Nobody burst my office with a piece of paper in a panic. We do not falter in front of the television, hold on to sweaty hands and waiting for the mood. The UN ambassador of Israel did not call me, the tears suffocated, to confess that he felt a failure. The fact that the UN meets and votes against Israel is like rain in London: that is exactly what it does. They gather, give the same speech as last year, vote in the same way as last year and then go to dinner at Wolfgang’s at Park Avenue.
With friends such as the one that insist to dismantle Trump’s Peace Deal in the middle, who needs enemies?
Yair Lapid, former Israeli Prime Minister and current opposition leader (Photocredit: Avi Ohayon)
The idea for the United Nations was born from a desire from Democratic Nations to promote liberal values and human rights. The foundation is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 21 states that the organization will promote democracy all over the world, so that everywhere “periodic and real elections will be … The free speech of the will of the people.” It only misses five words: or you will not be admitted.
A mix of post-colonial debt and ideological laziness led the UN to admit more and more non-democratic states. According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, of the 193 Member States of the UN, there are only 25 “full democracies”, with another 46 “lack of democracies”. In other words, in every mood, at every budget, in every resolution, non-democracies have an automatic majority. And they use it without the least quality.
For example, Iran was on the UN committee on the status of women in 2022, when Mahsa Amini was murdered. Syria was chairman of the conference on disarmament in 2018 while getting his own citizens. Noord -Korea was chairman of the same disarming conference in 2022 while openly waving nuclear weapons and shot ballistic missiles in Japan. China is currently a member of the Human Rights Council – apparently because it cares so deep about human rights.
The flag of the United Nations that was seen in the half staff on Tuesday 21 May 2024 in honor of the deceased Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. (UNTV)
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And all this before we even touch the obsessive bias of the UN – sorry, there is no better word – against Israel. I am the last person who claims that Israel is perfect or error -free. I disagree with the majority of what the current government is doing, especially in Gaza (I supported the strike in Iran and the operation against Hezbollah in Lebanon). Nevertheless, the treatment of Israel of the UN is the diplomatic equivalent of a psychotic episode. Israel makes up 0.1% of the world’s population, but accounts for more than 60% of the UN conviction in the past decade.
In 2023, Hamas launched the attack on October 7 on Israel, the General Meeting adopted 15 resolutions against Israel, and only eight against all other countries Combined. This was not an anomaly. In the past decade, the General Meeting has adopted 187 resolutions against Israel and only 86 together against the entire rest of the world. In the same decade, wars in Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia and Myanmar have killed many more people than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (even including the current war in Gaza-Google the facts if you doubt it). But the polling patterns at the UN have never changed.
The then Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid focuses on the 77th session of the UN general meeting on Thursday 22 September 2022 at the UN head office. (The Associated Press)
This is not only absurd – it is an expensive absurdity. The total expenditure of the UN system is $ 70 billion, more than the entire annual budgets of Luxembourg, Estland, Malta and Cyprus together. The majority of that money comes from the US and the European Union. And it disappears into a black hole of irresponsibility. One thing is clear: it is not used to “promote the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family, if the basis of freedom, justice and peace in the world”, as the UN charter promises.
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So what do we need?
We need a UN of democracies. I propose to mention the Dawn – the Democratic Alliance for World Nations – although perhaps a little less poetic would do. We don’t have to reinvent his goals. We only have to clarify the conditions of membership: a dedication to democracy; An willingness to confront authoritarian leaders who make a mockery of everything we keep holy; And a focus on fighting the great threats of our age – terrorism, religious fanaticism, fake news, nuclear weapons in the hands of reckless regimes and the abuse of democratic mechanisms by those who despise democracy themselves.
As far as the positive side is concerned, the organization must focus on real economic cooperation between states that maintain intellectual property, human rights, freedom of expression and honest elections – creating incentives for other nations to go to democracy. Above all, we must clearly say to the world: if you want the money, the power and possibilities of democracies, you must adhere to their rules. Democracy is not an exclusive club for members. It is a binding contract. And those who refuse to honor it may no longer abuse his privileges.
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