«Vima” asked the legal department Bar-Yaakov Lawassociate of the think tank Chatham House in London and with a tenure at the UN, to explain the difficult relationship between Israel and the UN.
The state of Israel was created in part thanks to the UN resolution to partition Palestine. Why are his relations with the Organization so bad?
“Because of the large number of anti-Semitic resolutions that are due to the fact that a large number of Arab and Muslim states participate in the UN General Assembly. As for keeping the peace, the UN has not kept it: as we see today, despite the presence of UNIFIL in southern Lebanon based on resolution 1701, Hezbollah has acquired its current arsenal.”
Has Israel contributed to the UN over the years, participated in, for example, peacekeeping missions in third countries?
“In my view, not enough. If he was more involved, it would be a way for the international community to see another side of Israel. When I was working in the office of the UN Secretary General, I had pointed out to the Israeli ambassador that Israel is focused on identifying unjust resolutions, but should devote just as much energy to participating in other activities of the Organization. But Israel has the psychology of the victim. Nevertheless, it offers to the field of hospitals in war fields or after natural disasters.
Is the Israeli government planning to ban UNRWA in the Palestinian territories?
“Israel considers UNRWA hypocritical because in the schools it operated in Gaza propaganda against Israel was carried out, while under UNRWA facilities Hamas built tunnels and hid ammunition. In addition, Israel considers UNRWA complicit with Hamas because a number of its workers participated in the October 7 atrocities. The US is calling on Israel not to pass the UNRWA ban law, but it is due to be voted on next week. However, it is not easy to replace UNRWA in the provision of humanitarian aid in the Strip.
I also want to emphasize that despite the undeniably horrific sexual crimes committed by Hamas on October 7, even against very young girls, the UN agencies have refused to cooperate with the Israeli lawyers handling these cases. This came as a shock to Israel – and to me.”
Why did Israel declare UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres persona non grata?
“Guterres made some inappropriate statements and never apologized – Israel took that very seriously.”
Will Israel-UN relations be restored if Netanyahu ceases to be prime minister?
“No, because the issue goes much deeper. Yet in Israel the Left is much more “vocal” in banning UNRWA today – the feeling that the UN has betrayed Israel is cross-party. To build trust, it is important that the UN takes responsibility for its mistakes towards Israel. Regarding UNIFIL, for example, admit that it did not implement resolution 1701 and cooperate with Israel in its implementation.”
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