For 75 years, the UN has been attacking Israel. Disproportionate attention spotlighting the only Jewish state has led to the adoption of scores of decisions, resolutions and condemnations.
In the UN Human Rights Council, filled with serial human rights abusers, there is a standing agenda item devoted to lambasting Israel. In 2023, the UN marked the “Nakba” – the catastrophe of Israel’s creation. In its latest perversion of morality, the UN Security Council had the chutzpah to demand that Israel immediately implement a cease-fire in Gaza, but failed to condemn the genocidal Gazan terrorists or even acknowledge the October 7 massacre.
But before lashing out at the United Nations for adopting yet another biased decision, Israel must first examine its own problematic practices.
For 75 years, Israel has hosted a plethora of UN organizations. Astoundingly, there are no fewer than 22 different UN organizations, devoted to the Palestinian cause of destroying Israel, that operate in Israel. Eighteen have a physical presence in Israel, including UNRWA, UNICEF, and OCHAoPt, to mention just a few. Their reports, which distort reality, fuel not only the UN hatred but also support the efforts of the genocidal terrorists, whitewashing them and projecting their terror propaganda.
As regards UNRWA, no one should have been surprised at the level of the agency’s infiltration by terrorists. The terrorists have been running UNRWA in Gaza for decades. UNRWA wasn’t just turning a blind eye to the actions of the terrorists, it was actually working on their behalf. This is not so far-fetched, considering the fact that UNRWA’s singular raison d'être is to perpetuate the lie that the “Palestine” refugees will one day flood, and demographically and democratically destroy Israel.
UNICEF is no different. Over a decade ago, during my service in the IDF, I was tasked with leading discussions on behalf of the IDF and Israel with UNICEF. For UNICEF, the arrest and prosecution of a Palestinian minor for murdering a Jew is equivalent to operating the gas chambers in Auschwitz. Both actions, equally, according to UNICEF, are Crimes Against Humanity. Palestinian minors, according to UNICEF, should be immune from prosecution, even when they murder Jews. While the discussions with UNICEF momentarily produced a report that the Prime Minister’s Office hailed as a great success, long term nothing changed.
When the world refers to the number of casualties in Gaza, it relies on the reports of OCHAoPt. While the number of alleged casualties in OCHAoPt’s reports is written in big bold numerals, only a small asterisk exposes that the source of the information is the Gazan “Ministry of Health or the Government Media Office” – i.e. Hamas. If a neutral observer unfamiliar with the broader context were to read the daily and weekly reports of OCHAoPt alone, they would also hate Israel.
None of this is new. The UN and its tentacles did not become hostile and virulently racist toward the Jewish state overnight. That is their nature.
Notwithstanding this clear reality and despite the overt hostility, Israel has done very little.
On the global level, while our ambassadors and prime ministers talk the rhetoric and highlight the bias, Israel remains a member of the UN. While deciding a few years ago to cut the contribution to the organization, Israel continues to pay its dues, in excess of $10 million per annum, to fund Jew-hatred. In addition, Israel grants the UN organizations working in Israel with tax breaks in excess of $40 million annually. Israeli representatives still frequent the diabolical Human Rights Council.
On the local level, while soon after October 7, Israel called out the head of OCHAoPt, Lynn Hastings, for her flagrant bias and later reportedly refused to extend her visa, the UN continues to occupy huge compounds and sundry offices in Israel, particularly in Jerusalem. From the comfort of Israel’s capital, the UN representatives, including (but of course not limited to) UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland spread their evil.
This does not have to be the reality. In the same way as Israel has finally accepted the fact that UNRWA is a substantial part of the problem and no part of the solution, so too, it should accept that the same is true with all the other UN organizations and representatives in Israel.
While Israel is certainly not exempt from legitimate criticism, there is nothing that can justify Israel’s continued willingness to host, entertain and facilitate the UN organizations.
Accordingly, step one of Israel’s fight to eradicate the UN bias should be to immediately expel every single UN representative and to order the immediate closure of every UN compound and office. Will this stop the vile rhetoric? Undoubtedly not, but at least the hatred will not be spewed from Jerusalem.
Lt. Col. (res.) Maurice HirschStep two should be to review Israel’s membership in every single UN organization. Whatever little benefit Israel reaps from UN membership is dwarfed by the legitimacy and funding that Israel provides to an institution that has sanctified and elevated to an art-craft antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
October 7 should not just be another day that the UN ignores. Rather, the October 7 massacre should be remembered, inter alia, as the watershed date that finally exposed the extent of the UN bias and caused Israel to reconsider its interaction with the UN.
Lt. Col. (res.) Maurice Hirsch is the Director of the Initiative for Palestinian Authority Accountability and Reform in the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, a member of the IDSF and the former Director of the Military Prosecution for Judea and Samaria.