What the states that voted to welcome Israel did not know, or maybe did not want to know, was the fact that they had just admitted a war-loving state into the very world organisation that is responsible for world peace, preventing wars and ending them once they erupt. Even before being admitted into the UN and when it was just one day old, Israel had nothing to do with peace and hates anything but war in every meaning of the word.
When it was announced as a state, it had already committed one of the most horrible crimes in human history by displacing some 750,000 Palestinians out of their land to carve out its still-expanding geography, which Israelis call “war of independence”, while the rest of the world recognises it as “The Palestinian Nakba”.
From the start of its UN membership, Israel was on a collision course with the world entity. It was only a matter of time before the newly created country of immigrants would start to contravene the UN Charter in every imaginable way. Its behaviour in relation to the organisation’s Charter and the UNSC, which had just certified that Israel had met the criteria for membership and that it was able to carry out “the obligations” set out in that document, has been a sham. Accepting the UN Charter in full has always been a prerequisite for membership and, through its entire 76 year history, Israel has been doing everything that contradicts the Charter, both in letter and soul.
In the current context of its genocidal war against the mostly civilian unarmed Palestinians, for instance, Israel has been doing everything that goes straight against the UN, its principles and norms, completely illegal, when it is expected to do the opposite.
It has, so far, killed 197 UNRWA employees, who are also UN employees by definition and supposed to be protected even during combat in a war zone— this is what the Charter says. On many occasions, Israeli forces have rounded up UN employees and imprisoned them, where they have endured torture. According to UNRWA Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, in the West Bank UNRWA employees suffer mistreatment at Israeli checkpoints. Many of them have reported abuse, beatings and humiliations at the hands of the Israeli military, security forces or both.
On top of that, Israel has killed some 230 aid workers operating in connection with the UN, either directly through UNRWA, certified by UNRWA, the UN or both, which means they should also be protected and enjoy the same privileges that UN employees enjoy, more or less, for the work they do, which is humanitarian in nature and in line with the norms of the UN criteria of humanitarian work. The number of victims continues to rise as the war drags on and more and more UN people will suffer.
Still, in context of the current war on Gaza, Israel has destroyed UN shelters and other facilities including food depots, food distribution points and supply routes. When it does not delay aid trucks from entering Gaza for weeks and, sometimes, months (as was the case in the earlier months of the war) it busies itself bombing the hungry Palestinians who rush to the trucks once they get through the Israeli check points. More than once, the Israeli army has attacked aid distribution points, killing and injuring dozens of Palestinians trying to collect whatever food they can get to feed their families.
To further display its contempt and disrespect of the UN and what its Charter represents, it has, so far, destroyed and damaged at least 190 UNRWA premises, many UNRWA schools in the Palestinian enclave. In targeting UNRWA schools – turned civilian shelters, for example – Mr. Lazzarini said 520 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed while inside such schools. Such premises deserve protection, not only because they are schools and UN buildings but also because many of them have been turned into shelters where civilians go to find refuge while waiting for the next Israeli drone to fire on them.
The Israeli war on UNRWA, and the UN by default, also targets the World Food Program, UNICEF and the World Health Organisation—all UN agencies. While instances of direct violence resulting in death and injuries against the three agencies are rare, so far, their work is being hampered by Israeli tactics.
It should be remembered that the movement of any UN vehicle, including food transporting trucks, as well as those delivering much needed medical supplies into Gaza is coordinated days earlier and the Israeli army gets full details of their route, content and who is travelling in such vehicles.
After 7 October, 2023, almost all Israeli officials used aggressive and UN hostile rhetoric, with tones of incitement against the world body. Such rhetoric is usually filled with lies and distorted facts. Even Israel’s UN permanent representative, Gilad Erdan, takes part in the orchestra of humiliating the UN. Last September, he shredded the UN Charter after telling the UNGA that the UN is sponsoring “Hamas terror” in Gaza and wants the late Yahya Sinwar to become president of what he called “terror state of Hamas”.
And to crown its anti-UN behaviour, different Israeli officials, including the Prime Minister, have accused the organisation of anti-Semitism and hating Jews simply because the UN tried to do its job and carry out its responsibilities to the world. At the peak of its war on the UN, Israel has banned UNRWA before declaring the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, himself persona non grata, effectively banning him from entering any place it controls, including the Occupied West Bank.
A final note should be mentioned here: Israel has been able to violate the UN Charter, international law and every other concept of peace in the world, yet every time it does, it gets away unscathed, thanks to the American veto in the UNSC which, unfortunately, considers Israel a “peace loving” state when it recommended membership!
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