Will Israel ever learn from its UN mistakes?
The failure by the United State and Israeli to pass a resolution condemning Hamas suggest that Israel needs to examine its understanding of the limits of its Middle Eastern relations and adjust its attitude toward the United Nations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government doesn’t think much of the United Nations. The fact is, the prime minister decided to appoint Danny Danon as Israel’s ambassador to the organization, the man who dared to run against him in elections to head the Likud. Netanyahu’s most important speech each year takes place at the UN General Assembly meeting in September, and he always prepares a surprise for the occasion. He is like the head of the Jewish family following the tradition of hiding a piece of matzah during the Passover dinner for the kids to find. Each year, he finds a new place to hide the afikomen.
Despite the attitude of Netanyahu's right-wing government toward the United Nations, it is shaken to the core every time Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas joins a UN-affiliated organization, usually one no one has ever heard of. It also jumps for joy at any abstention on an anti-Israel resolution, which means fewer votes opposing its policies.
Maybe because the Israeli government doesn’t think much of the United Nations, it received with deep and vocal sorrow the news of Nikki Haley's resignation as US ambassador to the world body. Haley was considered by many as representing Israel as well as her own country, so with her leaving, Israel would be losing an irreplaceable supporter. Her attempt to give Israel a parting gift in the form of a resolution censuring Hamas, for firing rockets at Israel, was seen as the first sign of salvation.
Danon, Haley’s loyal assistant, carefully prepared for the US ambassador’s initiative during the first week of December, but he forgot the biblical maxim “Let not him who girds on his sword boast like him who ungirds it!” (Kings I 20:11). It appeared that Israel might be on the verge of a rare victory in New York as a result of a recent wave of adoration flowing from Arab nations as well as smart international diplomacy. All the calculations suggested that this time it would be possible to slap Hamas’ cheek after it had fired more than 400 rockets from Gaza toward Israeli civilian targets, including nursery schools, on Nov. 12.
