UNJust

The opening of the United Nations General Assembly this month will feature, aside from all the usual solemn pageantry, a celebration of the organization’s 80th year, under a banner of sonorous ambition: “Better Together: 80 years and more for peace, development and human rights.”

But attention will be focused not on all that pompous ceremony but instead on the call by several influential nations, led by France, to recognize a Palestinian state. Denunciations of Hamas will no doubt be issued, perfunctory condemnations that soothe consciences without altering the stalemate. The larger question is what practical impact this move might have, and how Israel will respond — if indeed it has room to respond at all.

“The General Assembly will be another grand circus,” Israel’s UN ambassador Danny Danon tells Mishpacha. “What we will likely see, is that instead of focusing on bringing the hostages back and getting rid of Hamas, we will see a conference led by France and Saudi Arabia about the recognition of a Palestinian state. We think it’s detached from reality. It’s not constructive, it’s not helpful, but it’s easier for some leaders to come and make speeches and declarations than to deal with the real problem.”

Ambassador Danon is no stranger to this terrain. He is Israel’s first UN ambassador to be appointed to a second term, his first stint spanning the years 2015 to 2020.