How Israel perceives threats to its existence when there are none

The UN helped to create Israel with the 1947 Partition Plan, Resolution 181, but that is not enough for Israel’s outgoing ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan. In an interview with Israel National News at the Jerusalem Conference in New York, Erdan embarked upon a tirade on the dangers that the UN poses to the world. He’s not wrong in terms of the UN being a threat; aiding a settler-colonial ideology to establish a state on ethnically-cleansed land was, and still is, an ongoing threat to Palestinians. A threat to Israel, though? No debate is needed to establish that it is very clearly not.

Erdan’s main argument, however, is that the UN does indeed pose an existential threat to Israel and, to entice listeners to his extreme politics, he invokes the entire world as being under threat from the international organisation, as befits the Zionist narrative at the moment. If Israel is to maintain its impunity at a time when it is openly committing genocide, it requires its international allies to perceive themselves as being in the same boat as Israel, and — allegedly — threatened by the UN.

“The UN poses a threat not only to Israel but to the entire world, as it has dramatically shifted since 1948 and no longer upholds the same foundational values,” Erdan declared. The UN was founded, purportedly to “maintain international peace and security, give humanitarian assistance to those in need, protect human rights and uphold international law.” Aligning itself in favour of the Zionist colonial ideology falls nowhere within its mission as stated. So, the UN created a facade with its values that in turn protected its mission to maintain international law violations and make a travesty out of humanitarian aid. Israel is its most faithful adherent.

Three weeks ago, Erdan accomplished another of his stunts when he shredded the UN Charter during his address to the General Assembly. He also called many of the representatives “Jew-hating” for voting in favour of a resolution calling the UN Security Council to give full UN membership to Palestine.

“Sometimes I wonder if Israel should continue to be a member of an organisation like the UN,” Erdan said during his interview. “However, for Israel’s national dignity and for the remaining allies among the nations of the world, I believe it’s still important to be there.”

Israel’s “remaining allies” – the most powerful UN nations – are protecting Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza and actually aiding and abetting it.

So, of course, it is important for Israel to retain its membership status – a status granted without Israel adhering to UN Resolutions 181 and 194, as the conditions for full membership stipulated. It is much more beneficial for Israel to remain a UN member state, protected by the same entity that aided its creation at the expense of the ethnically-cleansed Palestinians who are now facing genocide.

Embracing the Zionist narrative is what makes the UN a threat to the world, and especially to the Palestinian people. Erdan should have clarified what foundational values he was speaking about: Israel found sanctuary within an institution that is tasked with protecting human rights, but instead offers sanctuary to the colonial oppressor, and mere humanitarian aid to the oppressed. Israel’s genocide in Gaza hasn’t altered the UN’s formula.

Contrary to what Erdan says, the UN has perfected the hypocrisy it flaunted in the 1948 Nakba and genocide can now only be defined by Israel, not international law, which means that it can continue to act with impunity. What more could the apartheid state ask for?

How Israel perceives threats to its existence when there are none