UN losing its relevance and legitimacy, Israel envoy says

In one of the most startling threats issued against an international body tasked with upholding a multilateral global rules-based order, Israel has warned that there will be no UN in 75 years if it continues to criticise Israel.

“The UN is risking the loss of whatever relevance and legitimacy it has left,” wrote Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan in a column for Israel Hayom, a daily paper owned by Republican mega donor Sheldon Adelson.

Suggesting that the UN will face an existential threat if it continues to criticise Israel, Erdan, who was appointed Israel’s ambassador to the UN in July, warned: “If the organization [UN] can’t take action against the worst regimes and continues to cling to the Palestinian obsession, in 75 years there will be no UN to mark its birthday, because it will simply lose its right to exist.”

Erdan denounced the UN for its support of Palestinian refugees. “When it funds agencies like UNRWA that only perpetuate the culture of lies and avoids dealing with the pressing matters critical to world peace, the UN risks losing the last vestiges of legitimacy and relevancy,” said Erdan regarding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. The agency provides vital aid and humanitarian assistance to more than five million Palestinian refugees.

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The UN Secretary-General, Antonio Gutteres, was singled out for criticism for omitting mention of Israel’s normalisation deals with Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates in his opening speech at the General Assembly last week.

“In his address at the start of the General Debate last week, Secretary General António Guterres chose to speak about Afghanistan and other matters while completely ignoring the normalization deals that have changed the Middle East, while also focusing on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” said Erdan.

Protesting against what Erdan described as the “automatic majority” against Israel in the UN, the Likud member predicted that normalisation with the Gulf states will aid the Zionist state in blocking anti-Israel majority in future votes.

“I believe that now, with Arab countries embracing peace with Israel as a boon and the Iranian brutality exposed on a daily basis, there is a fighting chance of achieving this goal,” he said in reference to “the automatic majority” against Israel in the UN.