Some Victories for Israel at UN, but More to be Done

"For decades the UN has rightly been perceived by many as an organization irredeemably biased against Israel. Features of this bias include the 1975 resolution, later repealed, that equated Zionism with racism; the Durban conferences against 'racism' that were nothing more than Israel-bashing fests under the auspices of the UN; the infamous 'Article 7' that obligates the so-called UN Human Rights Council to single out Israel for censure three times a year.

But new winds are blowing at Turtle Bay, and Danny Danon, Israel's ambassador to the UN, is riding them to a new horizon after being elected vice president of the General Assembly for next year.

The most dramatic change at the UN was the appointment of Nikki Haley as the US envoy to the UN. She has been an outspoken proponent of Israel in a number of UN forums, defending Israel's ties to the Temple Mount in UNESCO, and fighting to redirect attention from Israel to Iran and other human rights abusers in the UNHRC. She has also helped block publication of a report by the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia that referred to Israel as an apartheid state...

In May 2016, Danon become the first Israeli diplomat to chair the UNGA's legal committee, the Sixth Committee, with 109 member states. He is the first Israeli to chair a permanent committee at the UN...

Together with Haley and Guterres, Danon should work to eliminate Agenda Item 7, which singles out Israel for perpetual censure. Since 2007, Israel has been the only country whose alleged human rights abuses are regularly denounced in the framework of a single permanent item on the Human Rights Council's agenda. Doing away with this item might not transform an organization heavily biased against Israel, but at least it would stop the practice of generating automatic condemnation of Israel.

Another important step would be for the UN Relief and Works Agency to change the way it defines refugees. Palestinians who fled in 1948 are the only refugees in the world who bequeath their special status to a fourth generation..."