Trump's Board of Peace offers Israel a new alternative to the untrustworthy UN - opinion

For many of them, the UN was not merely a political framework but a moral response to the absolute failure of the international community to protect the Jewish people during the 1930s and ’40s.

Key Jewish figures shaped the UN and its foundational values. Rene Cassin, a French-Jewish lawyer and Holocaust survivor, was one of the principal architects of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, viewing it as a document designed to ensure that no regime could ever again murder an entire people in the name of sovereignty.

Hersch Lauterpacht, a Jewish lawyer born in Galicia, was among the originators of the concept of crimes against humanity, which became embedded in international law and provided the basis for prosecuting war criminals. Likewise, Raphael Lemkin, a Polish-Jewish lawyer, coined the term “Genocide” and led the adoption of the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Yet this hope – that a strong, moral, and universal UN would prevent another Holocaust – was accompanied over the years by growing disappointment, particularly due to the politicization of international institutions and their exploitation by non-democratic regimes. This disappointment would later provide the ideological foundation for discussions on the need for alternative alliances of democracies, as a response to the gap between the post-Holocaust vision and the reality that emerged.

This is not a policy debate. It is an indictment of a system.

Western policymakers do not need further explanation to understand the depth of the failure.

For years, the UN has become a political tool against the values of Western civilization and a legitimization machine for barbaric terrorist organizations.

For Israel, this arena constituted an eighth front, in addition to the seven fronts on which it fought tooth and nail to defeat its enemies in the air, at sea, and on land.

Stephen Harper, former prime minister of Canada, was the one who coined the term “the new antisemitism.” Not the antisemitism of racist caricatures, but rather the systematic isolation of the Jewish state by the UN, under the guise of universal morality. In the US, ideas have been raised over the years to establish an “alternative UN,” from the 2008 proposal by Republican presidential candidate John McCain to create a “League of Democracies,” to President Donald Trump’s proposal to establish a “Peace Council,” accompanied by sharp criticism of a UN that is “full of tremendous potential – but poor execution.”

The connecting thread is clear: deep frustration with an international institution that does not fail by mistake but operates according to perverse incentives, giving equal weight to morally and financially failed states.

In recent days, we face a historic moment – a window of opportunity that allows those who recognize it in time to shape a new reality. For the first time in a generation, there appears a real possibility to influence the international order in a way that rewards democracies rather than punishes them.

The “Board of Peace” promoted by President Trump presents a model fundamentally different from the UN: centralized leadership under the US, high financial commitment from member states, and a focus on practical solutions instead of empty declarations.

One need not accept every detail of the model to grasp its significance: the very existence of an alternative framework, operating outside the chronic paralysis of bureaucracy and the veto power of dictatorial states, creates competitive pressure on the UN – and grants democracies new room for action. For Israel, this is the first strategic opportunity in years not merely to defend itself, but to influence.

The Board should serve as a framework uniting as many countries as possible, but democratic states should enjoy a special status, providing moral and public backing for active foreign policy.

For this reason, Israel has not only an interest but an obligation to be a leading player in shaping the new framework. As Churchill understood, peace is not achieved by waiting for the goodwill of tyrants; likewise, democracies must recognize that their legitimacy is not granted by charity – it is built through initiative.

A new window of opportunity has opened this week. It will not remain open forever. After too many goals scored against the State of Israel, it is now time to score. If Israel acts wisely and courageously, it can become an architect of a more supportive international reality.