Long overdue winds of change at the UN?

"As Israel was celebrating its 69th birthday on Tuesday, the UNESCO Executive Board was at work passing yet another anti-Israel resolution...

Anti-Israel UNESCO resolutions are nothing new, previous UNESCO motions have sought to undermine Israel's sovereignty over east Jerusalem including the Old City of Jerusalem, while attempting to reclassify the Jewish holy sites of the Western Wall and the Temple Mount solely by their Muslim names of the Buraq Wall and al-Haram al-Sharif.

However, despite the resolution passing, some are viewing it as a diplomatic win for Israel as only 38% of the voting countries supported the measure. Of the 58 Member Executive Board: 10 opposed it...22 nations supported it...[and] 23 countries abstained... The vote represents a significant change from last year, in which 33 nations approved a controversial anti-Israel text in April and 24 voting for it in October.

Leading up the vote, Israel was concerned a German-led effort in which 11 EU states met with the resolution's Arab sponsors to work on a common language might lead to EU support for the resolution, however, that initiative fell through, and Sweden was the only EU country to support the resolution...

Despite the UNESCO resolution passing, the outcome of the vote may represent a change in the air at the UN. This change has been led by the US and in particular, its new Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley who has declared, 'the UN's anti-Israel bias... is long overdue for a change.'...

When it comes to Haley it is not just talk, she has already implemented changes. When the US held the presidency of the Security Council for a month in April, Haley ensured that the focus would be on Iran, instead of an 'Israel bashing' session and said, 'Iran is using Hezbollah to expand its regional aspirations. That is a threat that should be dominating our discussions at the Security Council.'...

Moreover, during a meeting with Palestinian Authority envoy Riyad Mansour, Haley urged the Palestinians to resume negotiations with Israel, and indicated that unilateral actions at the UN will not have US support. Haley believes that UN initiatives on the Israeli- Palestinian conflict have so far 'been more of a hindrance toward the peace process than a help, because it's caused defensiveness to happen and that's never healthy for anything.'...

The Senate recently sent a unanimous letter signed by all 100 members to the UN Secretary General António Guterres praising Haley's comments condemning anti-Israel bias at the UN, and calling on the UN to implement changes... Given the numbers game which controls the UN, and the majority that the Arab and Muslim-majority states, together with their allies, can muster in the world body, it is unlikely the UN will become genuinely fair in its treatment of Israel anytime soon..."