Israeli envoy highlights UN bias, clashes with Palestinian counterpart at Security Council

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict spilled into the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday as their envoys verbally sparred during a routine session on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with envoys on both sides trading accusations. 

Palestinian Authority Envoy Riyad Mansour asked the U.N. Security Council to upgrade the Palestinian status from “observer” to a member state. He said Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s decision to ban Palestinian flags from public display was an attempt to deny “not only our rights but our very existence as a nation.” 

“Peace will not come from the negation of our existence. It will come from the recognition of our plight and our rights,” Mansour told the council. 

Last month, the Palestinians pushed for a resolution in the United Nations General Assembly to have Israel investigated by the Hague-based International Court of Justice. 

Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan said the P.A. is trying to use the U.N. to help destroy the Jewish state, saying the Palestinian-prompted probe against Israel by the ICJ “was a clear unilateral step initiated by the Palestinians with the sole purpose of destroying Israel as a Jewish state.” 

Erdan highlighted the large number of U.N. resolutions adopted against Israel every year versus the organization’s scant number of resolutions against all the other countries of the world. 

“In a year that a war rages in Europe – Iran is murdering and executing protestors and on the verge of becoming a nuclear power, North Korea test-launched a record number of missiles, and rogue regimes and terror groups continue to wreak havoc – this institution saw fit to adopt 15 condemnatory resolutions singling out Israel,” Erdan said. 

“Do you know how many condemnatory resolutions were adopted against the rest of the world combined? Thirteen, 13. More resolutions targeted Israel than the entire rest of the world combined. No one can dare tell me there is no institutional bias against Israel here at the U.N.”

Erdan vowed to make use of his addresses to the U.N. body by combating false statistics and lies told by Palestinians about Israel. 

After the measure passed, Israel’s Security Cabinet responded with a series of retaliatory punitive measures against Palestinians. Shortly afterwards, the Palestinian U.N. Mission released a letter signed by over 90 countries condemning Israel’s response and calling on it to reverse the sanctions it had placed on the P.A.

Among the measures taken was to deduct tax revenues Israel collects for the P.A. to equal the amount the P.A. paid to terrorists in 2022 – and their families – for targeting Israelis and Jews. The Security Cabinet plans to grant those funds directly to the victims of Palestinian terrorism and their families, an amount of more than 139 million shekels ($40.6 million). This move was in line with a law passed by the Knesset in 2018. 

The previous government eventually transferred the tax revenue to the P.A. despite the Security Cabinet's decision apparently due to concerns it would lead to the P.A.'s collapse and make room for more extreme Palestinian factions, such as Hamas.

In 2022, for example, Israel collected about $190 million USD in tax revenue for the P.A. each month, which means the deducted funds for transfer to the victims of Palestinian terrorism were just over 21% of one month’s tax revenue.