Dear Antonio Guterres: Fairness, Israel, and the legacy of your UN - opinion

I have hesitated before writing this letter.

I still remember the early days of your candidacy for secretary-general. I recall you saying that Portugal’s decline began with the oppression of its Jews. It was a thoughtful observation that reflected an understanding of Jewish history, and the damage societies inflict upon themselves when they exclude their Jewish communities.

That is why I turn to you personally today.

Let me be clear: I do not believe you are personally biased against Jews. I do not believe you harbor hostility toward Israel. On the contrary, I have always believed that your desire was to strengthen the United Nations as a force for peace and human rights.

Yet when I look at the UN’s approach toward Israel in recent years, I struggle to reconcile what I know of you with what I see coming from the institution you lead, which is completely disproportional and unjustified.

One meeting remains particularly vivid in my memory. It took place in 2024, not long after the horrors of the October 7 massacre.

What was supposed to be a brief conversation lasted nearly ninety minutes. We discussed the hostages, the trauma inflicted on Israeli society, and the responsibility of the international community. I left believing you genuinely cared and intended to act. I felt similarly encouraged when you appointed a senior UN official dedicated to combating antisemitism.

Those decisions mattered.

Which is why I find it so difficult to understand how the United Nations has become, in the eyes of so many Israelis and Jews around the world, increasingly unbalanced in its treatment of the Jewish state.

Criticism of governments is legitimate. Israel is a democracy, and like every nation, its policies should be scrutinized and debated. Israelis themselves engage in fierce disagreements about their leaders and their government’s decisions.

However, there is a difference between scrutiny and disproportionate focus. There is a difference between accountability and bias.

Too often, the UN appears to have crossed that line.

Whether through the appointment of officials with well-documented hostility toward Israel, reports that appear to begin with conclusions rather than evidence, or decisions that place Israel alongside some of the world’s most brutal terrorist organizations, many have come to question whether the principles of fairness and impartiality are being applied consistently.

Antonio, I find that deeply troubling not only as a Jew and as an Israeli or as someone who cares about Israel, but as someone who believes in the importance of international institutions.

My concern is also shaped by personal experience.

During the Holocaust, my mother survived because Muslims in Kyrgyzstan chose compassion over indifference during one of history’s darkest periods. My sister died during our family’s escape from Moldova.

From an early age, I learned that human beings are capable of both great cruelty and extraordinary courage. I learned that reality is rarely simple and that moral judgment requires humility.

That lesson seems especially important today.

One of the areas of work I’m involved in is helping to rebuild educational institutions in the communities next to Gaza and along Israel’s northern border.

When I visit these schools, I meet children carrying burdens no child should bear. I see trauma, anxiety, and loss. I meet children who have spent years running to shelters, children who have lost loved ones, and children whose sense of security has been shattered.

Nevertheless, there is one thing I do not see.

I do not see hatred.

Despite everything they have endured, these children are being taught resilience, compassion, and hope. They are being taught to build rather than destroy and to dream of a future that is better than the past.

That reality deserves recognition too.

Antonio, you are entering the final months of your tenure as secretary-general. These months will play an important role in shaping your legacy.

My hope is not that you defend Israel; it is that you defend fairness.

My hope is that you ensure criticism is grounded in evidence rather than ideology. That appointments are based on professionalism rather than activism, and that the United Nations remains faithful to its founding principles and does not become a vehicle for prejudice, double standards, or political agendas.

Years ago, we spoke about the contributions of the Jewish people to the world. We spoke about a people who, despite centuries of persecution, continued to contribute to science, medicine, culture, education, and human progress and development.

Today, the same people are confronting a resurgence of antisemitism across much of the world.

At such a moment, leadership matters.

Your legacy will not be defined only by the speeches you delivered or the crises you managed. It will also be defined by whether, when confronted with growing concerns about fairness and credibility, you acted to address them.

That is why I am writing to you now.

Not as an opponent, but as someone who still believes in the ideals the United Nations was created to uphold and who hopes that before your tenure concludes, it can move closer to living up to them once again.