Ayalon: Today's UN wouldn't form Israel

Ayalon Todays UN would

1947 pre-state 248.88 (photo credit: )
1947 pre-state 248.88
(photo credit: )
If the United Nations General Assembly were to vote today on Resolution 181, the Partition Plan that led to the creation of the modern State of Israel, "there is no doubt" that it would not be approved, Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said Wednesday night, at the first meeting of the Hadar Israel organization in Jerusalem. Former ambassador to the UN Dore Gold, who also spoke at the Hadar event, gave a similar assessment to The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, noting that "the UN today seeks to undermine the very legitimacy of the State of Israel." Anglo-action group Hadar, which scheduled the event to coincide with the anniversary of the November 29, 1947 vote on the UN Partition Plan for Palestine, which was approved by 33-13 with 10 abstentions, invited Israel Beiteinu MK Ayalon, Gold and former ambassador to Canada Alan Baker as keynote speakers to address the hundreds of participants on how Israel should confront the new diplomatic and legal threats in the international political arena. In his speech, Ayalon declared that in the coming weeks, in response to the increasing international diplomatic pressure, the Foreign Ministry would be unveiling a national and global campaign to change negative public opinion. Ayalon estimated that 60-65 percent of today's UN member nations are "dictatorial" countries that would vote against Israel were the establishment of the Jewish state put to the UN now. "That's an automatic majority against us…We have to understand this and devise how to counter it," said the deputy foreign minister. "We need two arms, one for special diplomatic operations and another for intensifying cooperation with the IDF Spokesman in documenting and delivering news as quickly as possible" he added. Ayalon also called for the creation of a new political culture, with new political reforms, and revising the United Nations Charter and Geneva Convention in order to "change the laws and charters so terrorists will be under the gun, rather than democracies." Ayalon praised the 300,000 English-speaking olim and called the Anglo aliya "the best aliya Israel has ever had." "You all came of your own accord and rather than asking what you can receive from the country, you ask what you can give to the country. I hope there will be an imprint of Anglo participation in the political realm in the future," he said. Gold told the crowd that Israel faces a three-pronged international delegitimization through "the erosion of our diplomatic rights, the eroding of our historical rights and the branding of the IDF as a criminal entity." Gold also recommended strengthening and defending Israel's legal rights in the international sphere by suggesting that the Foreign Ministry should be "encouraging countries to take measures against Hamas and Iran…and also taking the message to the press of how Israel is trying to defend itself." "We need to assert ourselves like we have never asserted ourselves before," Gold declared to resounding applause, as he explained his recommendations for both offensive and defensive strategies to combat Israel's delegitimization. Speaking to the Post on Thursday, Gold noted that, in 1945, "to become a member state of the UN, you had to declare war on one of the axis parties, Nazi Germany or Imperial Japan. As a result, most of the founding members of the United Nations were allies, most of which were democratic. And they mostly shared a common ethos. Even those countries that were authoritarian or totalitarian like Saudi Arabia or the Soviet Union acquiesced to the values of the democratic majority, for example, in abstaining and not voting against the declaration of human rights. That was the environment in which Resolution 181 of the General Assembly was adopted on November 29, 1947." Today, Gold went on, "the United Nations has a completely different membership, the majority of which are authoritarian states and therefore have completely different values to those of the state of Israel." He noted that "they are under the domineering influence of the Islamic states and the non-aligned movement which consistently support anti-Israel resolutions no matter how much they undermine the Arab-Israeli peace process." Therefore, Gold concluded, "the UN today seeks to undermine the very legitimacy of the state of Israel - even though it was the UN in 1947 that recognized the right of the Jewish people to a Jewish state." Created earlier this year, Hadar Israel is a self-proclaimed council for civic action. It is aiming to develop leadership and volunteer opportunities for English-speakers in Israel, and provide related training, information, and assistance in order to increase Anglo participation in Israeli public affairs.