By Jacob Kamaras
DENVER — The famed Israeli envoy to the United Nations and United States, Abba Eban, once said that “if Algeria introduced a resolution that the earth was flat and that Israel had flattened it, it would pass by a vote of 164 to 13 with 26 abstentions” at the U.N.
While addressing the Jewish National Fund-USA Global Conference for Israel in Denver on Thursday night, the current Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan invoked Eban’s words in regard to today’s anti-Israel bias at the world body. He explained that the odds are stacked against Israel since 56 of 193 U.N. members are Muslim-majority countries, and less than half are democratic states.
Following his remarks to the conference, Erdan told reporters that he devoted time to JNF-USA’s conference because “I see it as part of my role to serve as a bridge between the State of Israel and Diaspora Jews, and it’s also very important that they will understand what is truly happening in the house of lies where I serve, the U.N. When people hear about anti-Israel resolutions that are being decided at the U.N., they don’t understand how the U.N. is comprised.”
He continued, “Since we’re not only fighting on the battlefield, we’re also fighting for the hearts and minds of people in the United States, the young generation, it’s important for me to share my experience with Jewish and other communities and hope to convince them.”
Asked if the U.N. should be dismantled, the ambassador responded, “The U.N. has proved time and again that it’s paralyzed, it has lost its moral compass…the U.N. should go through reform, but until then…maybe time has come to defund the U.N. and demand fundamental reforms.”Erdan told conference attendees that following the Hamas massacre of October 7, “The love and support that Israel has received [from the Diaspora] strengthens the resilience of every Israeli.”
He praised JNF-USA for remaining committed to building Israel, through thick and thin.
“Everywhere you walk, you see the footprint of JNF,” said Erdan. “Nothing has stopped you. Not wars, not a lack of water, not arid land, and not waves of terror.”Do anti-Israel resolutions at the U.N. actually matter? Erdan argued that they are more consequential today in the internet age, when “what happens at the U.N. doesn’t stay at the U.N.,” because “lies can travel around the world before the truth can even get its shoes on.”
“Words are not enough” to support Israel right now, he said.
“What we demand today is action,” Erdan said. “Those that assault our children on campuses must be expelled, professors that support intifada must be fired…the time for talk ended right weeks ago. The time for action is now.”
I never pay attention to what happens at the Useless Nations. The problem is too many people do.