Every September, the United Nations General Assembly convenes in New York City. And every September, the world’s worst despots, kleptocrats, and terror apologists strut across its stage with the same tired refrain: Israel is the problem.
While Ukraine bleeds, Iran conducts an unprecedented crackdown on dissidents, and the people of Sudan endure a horrific civil war. Yet the international community saves its fiercest venom for the world’s only Jewish state. The obsession is pathological, and it tells us far more about the United Nations than about Israel.
This year is no exception. The agenda is stuffed with one-sided resolutions singling out Israel for supposed violations, while giving a free pass to Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran. The same United Nations that has scarcely a word for the hostages still languishing underground in Gaza will once again accuse Israel of “crimes against humanity” for defending its citizens from mass murder.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio deserves credit for drawing a line. By barring Palestinian Authority officials from entering the United States to attend the confab, he underscored an obvious truth: the United Nations should not be a platform for those who glorify terrorism, reject peace, and conduct a campaign against American interests. The United States has no obligation to grant its enemies a stage on our soil.
But what makes the circus at Turtle Bay even more galling is the chorus of supposedly enlightened democracies who lend it cover.
France, Britain, Canada, Australia, Belgium, nations that should know better, have chosen this moment to recognize a Palestinian “state” that does not exist, in defiance of reality and of the peace process itself. In doing so, they reward rejectionism, undermine direct negotiations, and embolden those who believe that terrorism is the royal road to international legitimacy. No surprise that Hamas has greeted these announcements with great enthusiasm.
France, in particular, has crowned itself chief conspirator in this charade. Having failed to protect its own Jewish citizens from surging antisemitism, Paris now seeks moral posturing on the world stage at Israel’s expense. It is disgraceful, and it will not bring peace any closer.
The truth remains unchanged: there is no substitute for direct negotiations between the parties. Short-circuiting that process with empty recognitions or UN resolutions is not diplomacy; it is theater. And theater has consequences. Every false declaration that Israel is the obstacle gives terrorists another excuse to strike, and puts another roadblock in the way of real compromise.
Israel is not perfect: no country is. But it is the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, the only country in the region where Christians, Muslims, and Jews worship freely, where women and LGBTQ citizens enjoy full civil rights, where the rule of law matters. To single it out for demonization, year after year, is not criticism. It is antisemitism.
The United Nations was founded in the ashes of the Holocaust, with the promise of “never again.” And yet, 80 years later, it too often serves as a soapbox for those who would finish Hitler’s work. That is not just a Jewish problem. It is a United Nations problem. And a reminder that institutions conceived even with the best of intentions can be hijacked.
The Jewish people will outlast this theater, as we have outlasted every empire and tyrant before. But the nations who allow the UN to become a stage for hate should ask themselves what it says about their own moral compass.
History will not be kind to those who recognize fantasy “states” while ignoring actual terrorism. History will remember who stood with the Jewish state under siege, and who joined the mob.
Enough with the charade at Turtle Bay. It is past time for the United Nations to do what it was created to do: defend peace, defend truth, defend human dignity. Until then, the world should see its annual assembly for what it is: a pageant of hypocrisy, an insult to the true victims of terror, and a stain on the conscience of the international community.
Daroff is CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (COP), the recognized central coordinating body representing 50 diverse national Jewish organizations on issues of national and international concern. His opinions do not necessarily reflect those of his 50 member organizations.
