Israel has a unique relationship with the United Nations; it was founded by a decision of the international organization, yet at the same time, it is the member state that most frequently violates its decisions. Despite this record and facing countless condemnations, the UN has displayed a rare tolerance that no other member state has received.
The UN General Assembly created Israel through its Resolution 181 in 1947, which decided to partition Palestine under mandate into an Arab state and a Jewish state. Without this decision, the international community would not have recognized Israel as a state. However, Israel has blatantly disregarded this internationally acknowledged fact, to the point where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently overtly objected to it.
The Knesset (Israeli Parliament) approved a bill by majority vote that bans the activities of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which will come into effect after ninety days, clearly defying the international community.
Israel holds the record for defying UN decisions, whether issued by the Security Council, the General Assembly, its subsidiary bodies, the International Court of Justice, or specialized UN agencies. A prominent example of this is Israel’s disregard for General Assembly Resolution 194 of 1949, which stated that refugees wishing to return to their homes should be allowed to do so as soon as possible, to live in peace with their neighbors, and that compensation should be paid for property of those who decide not to return, as well as for any loss or damage incurred, as required under principles of law to be compensated by the governments or responsible authorities. Despite the passage of seventy-five years since this resolution, Israel has taken no steps to comply with it.
Moreover, Israel is the only country that has deliberately targeted UN peacekeeping forces. In 1996, its forces attacked UNIFIL positions in the village of Qana in southern Lebanon, and now, during its invasion of southern Lebanon, it targets them directly and repeatedly in various locations.
Additionally, Israel is the only country that has taken steps to classify a UN agency as a terrorist organization. In July, the Israeli Parliament initially approved a bill aimed at designating UNRWA as a terrorist organization. UNRWA was established in 1949 by the General Assembly to implement direct relief programs and provide employment to Palestinian refugees, and it is credited with raising the standard of education among Palestinians, making it the highest in the Arab world.
Israel has also violated more treaties and international agreements than any other country, especially those related to international humanitarian law and human rights. This is evidenced by the countless resolutions issued by international bodies, in addition to reports from UN Special Rapporteurs and Israeli and international human rights organizations addressing the situation in the occupied territories.
Finally, Israel is the first and only state to be prosecuted by the International Court of Justice for committing genocide, as it was accused by South Africa and several other countries of committing acts of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The court found reasonable evidence warranting consideration of these charges and issued “provisional measures” on two occasions, demanding that Israel take all necessary measures to prevent acts violating the 1948 Genocide Convention and imposed an obligation on it to ensure the immediate supply of essential food provisions, as the residents of Gaza face “famine and malnutrition.”
Recently, Israel’s contempt for the UN reached an unprecedented level when it announced, without any justification, that UN Secretary-General António Guterres was a persona non grata. This was only because he performed the simplest duties of his role as head of the international organization intended to reflect global conscience.
Israel’s defiance of the UN began long ago. I had the chance to experience it personally and directly in 1978 when I was a young diplomat at the Egyptian mission to the UN in New York. I witnessed it firsthand through the actions of Israel’s then permanent representative, Chaim Herzog (the former Israeli president and the current president’s father), who, despite his polite diplomatic appearance, would enter the General Assembly hall carrying a stack of newspapers, deliberately reading them openly in front of delegates to show his disregard for what they were saying about his country. At that time, only a few Western countries defended Israel.
Then came Herzog’s successor, Yehuda Blum—a prominent international law professor—who elevated Israel’s defiance of the UN to a higher level. When Israel faced persistent and widespread criticism in the Security Council for violating international law and many UN resolutions, Blum found no way to defend Israel except by attacking the criticizing countries on unrelated issues. Only the United States and a few other members were spared from his sharp interventions.
Since then, Israel’s challenge to the UN has noticeably escalated, reaching unprecedented levels in the past year, from its practices in Gaza and the West Bank to Lebanon, where Israel has violated principles and rules of international law, including international humanitarian law and human rights law, to such an extent that even its closest allies had no choice but to acknowledge its disgraceful record. For instance, last September, the UN General Assembly, in its tenth special emergency session, overwhelmingly adopted a resolution concerning the advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice in July, which stated that Israel’s continued presence in Palestinian territories is “illegal” and that “all states should not recognize” the occupation that has persisted for decades. The resolution also called on Israel to comply with international law and immediately withdraw its military forces, cease all new settlement activities, evacuate settlers from the occupied territories, and dismantle parts of the separation wall it has erected within the occupied West Bank.
Furthermore, the resolution demanded that Israel return real estate and properties, as well as all assets it has seized since the onset of occupation in 1967, including cultural property and assets captured from Palestinians and Palestinian institutions. It also required the allowance for all Palestinians displaced by the occupation to return to their original homes and for compensation to be paid for the damages caused by the Israeli occupation.
Perhaps Israel’s only success at the UN was in 1991 when it managed to convince the General Assembly to rescind its 1975 resolution, which considered Zionism a form of racism and racial discrimination. This success was achieved under entirely different circumstances and was meant to encourage Israel to cooperate better with the UN, which has not materialized; rather, we have witnessed a rise in Israel’s challenge to the international community.
The international community, represented by the UN, has shown a great deal of patience and leniency towards Israel, despite its ongoing and blatant violations of its resolutions. The UN can no longer remain passive, especially after Israel has repeatedly and brazenly demonstrated its determination to continue violating international law, particularly humanitarian law and human rights law. Issuing resolutions without tangible impact is no longer acceptable; it is time to take a firm stance to deter Israel and compel it to respect international legitimacy. Failure to take concrete action will undermine the credibility of the UN and threaten the principles on which it was founded, foremost among these being respect for fundamental human rights.
Unfortunately, recent Israeli policies and positions, as well as statements from its representatives at the UN, clearly show that Israel is continuing to disrespect this international organization concerned with international security and peace and respect for human rights, raising the issue of Israel’s right to continue occupying its seat in the General Assembly, the most representative body in the UN.
This would not be the first time a member state has been barred from participating in the General Assembly due to its egregious violations of UN resolutions. In 1974, the General Assembly adopted Resolution 3181, whereby it suspended South Africa’s participation in the General Assembly’s work—effectively depriving it of exercising its membership—due not only to its apartheid policies, which the General Assembly deemed a fundamental violation of human rights, but also due to its policies in Namibia and Rhodesia, which were found to have negative ramifications for regional stability. South Africa did not regain its seat and thus rejoin UN activities until after the end of the apartheid system in 1994.
If the General Assembly suspended South Africa’s membership in 1974 due to its human rights violations and destabilization of its region, how can it remain silent regarding Israel, which commits the same violations but on a broader scale?
The excessive use of force, disregard for international standards regarding the exercise of the right to self-defense such as necessity, proportionality, and immediacy; the complete neglect for civilian lives, the destruction of Gaza, land confiscation, house demolitions, the use of brute force, and enabling settlers to intimidate West Bank residents, the demolition of entire villages in Lebanon as occurred in Muhi’bib, and the deprivation of Gazans from adequate food, bombing of hospitals and schools, repeatedly displacing Palestinians and Lebanese, and using Palestinians as human shields—as recently documented by The New York Times—are all examples of the atrocities and crimes against humanity that Israel continues to commit.
Many UN member states have seriously considered this option, but what prevents them is the fear that the United States, under congressional pressure, would withhold its financial contributions to the UN budget. However, Israel not only disregards UN decisions and violates international law but also appears to violate US law, according to a letter from the US Secretaries of State and Defense dated October 13, which warned that the US would have to enforce laws passed by Congress and cease providing Israel with arms if it did not allow sufficient humanitarian aid into Gaza within thirty days.
However, suspending Israel’s activities in the General Assembly will not be sufficient on its own to compel Israel to change its policies that defy international legality, thus the international community must take additional steps to achieve this goal.
Among the most critical of these measures, there must be a complete halt on arms supplies to Israel, which some European countries have already undertaken, and others have announced their intention to do so.
Unless such measures are taken, Netanyahu will not back down from his plan to reshape the Middle East with the aim of complete control over the region. This would only resurrect the colonialism that prevailed in the twentieth century when colonial powers imposed their will by combining military force and technological superiority, but this time in the twenty-first century.
However, this plan is doomed to fail, just as colonialism ultimately failed, but it will lead to prolonging the cycle of violence and instability that the region has suffered from for decades.
“The credibility of the UN, as the guardian of international law, and the international system of which it is a part fundamentally depends on the commitment of member states to its decisions.”
The only way for Israel to live peacefully in the Middle East is to come to the conviction that it is part of a region with a deep history and traditions and to abandon its unrealistic and dangerous dream of reshaping the region according to its own vision.
Israel must also recognize that peace cannot be achieved by force, and that lasting peace can only be built on justice, which cannot be achieved as long as the Israeli occupation of Arab territories continues.
It is time for the UN to seriously and concretely commit to the foundations on which it was established, particularly the principle outlined in the preamble of its charter… “to show conditions under which justice can be achieved and obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law respected.”
In conclusion, the credibility of the UN, as a guardian of international law and the global order, depends on member states’ commitment to implementing its decisions. If Israel is allowed to continue violating these decisions, it will cause significant harm not only to the organization but to the entire international system.
