‘Disastrous’ UN will be defunded, says Israeli ambassador

The United Nations (UN) – an organisation founded to uphold peace that has been turned into a brutal weapon against Israel – is on its way out, according to Israel’s former ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan.

“The UN isn’t just a failure, it’s a disgrace. Since 7 October 2023, the UN has reached an all-time moral low,” he told a packed Cape Town audience at the South African Zionist Federation’s “Let’s Talk – Zionist Connect” conference on Sunday, 16 March.

Having represented Israel between 2020 and 2024 at the UN, Erdan is recognised for being fearless in confronting the indefensible he found at the UN.

“The Free World is finally waking up to the disaster that is the UN,” he said. Already, UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East) has been defunded by President Donald Trump and other key European allies, and the United States (US) administration has pulled out of the Human Rights Council, UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), and the World Health Organization.

These, Erdan said, are steps in that direction, because the UN’s $74 billion (R1.3 trillion) annual budget is mostly funded by the Free World, with the US contributing $19 billion (R349 billion), more than a quarter of that.

Those top funders, he said, are the “very democracies this institution is working overtime to undermine. So, the next step is crystal clear: defund the UN!” In its place, Erdan suggests creating what he calls “a League of Democracies”.

Speaking about his experience at the UN, he said, “I was fighting a force of sheer evil. Can you imagine that since 7 October, the UN Security Council has convened countless times to promote aid for Gaza, but hardly once for our hostages?

“As Hamas exploited hospitals as terror launch pads, the World Health Organization condemned us for dismantling these terror bases, instead of Hamas,” he said.

“While Hezbollah built terror bases under the noses of UN forces in Lebanon, not a single condemnation was issued. And the International Court of Justice – the ICJ – is discussing the absurd accusations that Israel, born from the ashes of the Holocaust, could be committing genocide!”

He reminded the audience that this was the same institution that voted in favour of the Jewish state’s establishment in 1947, and had “now become obsessed with demonising Israel’s existence”.

He maintained that the UN, formed to uphold peace, had become “the weapon of terrorists and tyrants”.

What began as an alliance of like-minded nations, Erdan said, “became an arena dominated by political agendas and political groups. Groups that vote together.

“Today, the UN has 193 member states. But here’s the reality, more than half aren’t even democracies. And 56 – nearly a third – are Muslim-majority countries, almost all of which openly align against Israel,” he said.

“And yet, the UN still operates by majority rule, and one country, one vote. This is the UN’s ‘original sin’. Tiny island nations such as Tuvalu and human rights abusers such as North Korea have the exact same voting power as the United States, the United Kingdom, or Canada.

“So, what happens when non-democracies outnumber the Free World? The arsonists take over the firehouse! They dictate the agenda, dominate the votes, and manipulate the system to serve their own interests.

“This is how tyrants weaponise the UN. They exploit massive voting blocs, like the 56 members of the Muslim group or the 54 members of the African group, to push through their resolutions.”

This, he said, had resulted in huge “moral collapse”. So much so, that Cuba, China, Qatar, and Sudan – all of whom have little regard for human rights – have been elected to sit on the UN Human Rights Council.

“Who did they choose to chair the Commission on the Status of Women? Saudi Arabia! Yes, the same Saudi Arabia where women can hardly leave the house without a man’s permission,” Erdan said.

“The UN selected Iran to chair both a human rights forum and a nuclear disarmament conference. The world’s biggest state sponsor of terror lecturing the world on human rights and nuclear safety. It would be funny if it weren’t so terrifying,” he said.

And then to top it all, when the South African government dragged Israel to the ICJ on genocide charges, a Lebanese judge was chosen to preside over the case. “From a country that is literally at war with Israel. Impartiality? Give me a break!”

He maintained that Israel’s adversaries have used the UN to do what their armies have failed to do: wage a war that would delegitimise Israel and isolate it on the world stage.

“When Israel marked 75 years of independence, the UN marked 75 years of the ‘Nakba’ [the Catastrophe], he said.

“And since 7 October, while Israel fought for survival, the UN scrambled to save Hamas, immediately demanding ceasefires to tie our hands and prevent us from defeating our enemies.”

So, he said, “The UN isn’t just corrupt, it’s a weapon. The UN has been turned into a tool of war against Israel.”

Erdan said he wished that it didn’t matter, but it does. “We live at a time where a lie travels around the world before the truth can even get its shoes on. And the UN’s lies and resolutions against Israel have very real-world repercussions.

“The false genocide claims and biased UN reports poured fuel on the fire of the anti-Israel protests. They prolonged the war,” Erdan said. “They forced Israel to supply aid to the terrorist monsters who massacred us. And they even influenced the Biden administration’s decision to withhold weapons from Israel.”

Worse still, he said, “The demonisation of Israel is music to the ears of antisemites. It incites attacks on Jews and isolates our homeland.” This is what South African Jews have felt firsthand, Erdan told the audience.

It’s for this reason he said, that “I never stayed silent and always fought back. Representing Israel at the UN isn’t only about diplomacy, it’s also about going on the offensive and standing up for the truth.

“I knew, what you all know, that I represented the most moral country in the world. The most moral military in the world!”

He made it clear that Jews around the world can’t stay silent either and that we needed to stick together.

“Jewish unity isn’t just a slogan,” Erdan said. “It’s the secret to our survival. Without it, we would have vanished like so many other nations. No force – not persecution, not exile, definitely not today’s rising antisemitism – can break a people who stand together with faith and determination.

“And that’s exactly what you’re doing here in Cape Town. Strengthening your community. Your resolve. Uniting under Zionist values. Refusing to be silenced. This conference and your work every day to keep Jewish life strong worldwide, even emboldens national resilience in Israel.”