The United Nations Security Council is comprised of five permanent members (P5) and ten elected members (E10) who try to pass resolutions to promote global and regional peace and cooperation. It fails repeatedly regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict as it prioritizes protecting the political-terrorist group Hamas above all else.
On June 4, 2025, E10 put forward a draft resolution which “demand[ed] an immediate, unconditional, and permanent ceasefire in Gaza; the immediate, dignified, and unconditional release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups; and the immediate and unconditional lifting of all restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid into the territory.”
The acting US Representative Dorothy Shea vetoed the draft resolution saying “US opposition to this resolution should come as no surprise – it is unacceptable for what it does say, it is unacceptable for what it does not say, and it is unacceptable for the manner in which it has been advanced. The United States has been clear: we would not support any measure that fails to condemn Hamas and does not call for Hamas to disarm and leave Gaza.” She added “We cannot allow the Security Council to award Hamas’ intransigence. Hamas and other terrorists must have no future in Gaza. As Secretary [Marco] Rubio has said: ‘If an ember survives, it will spark again into a fire’.”
Knowing that the United States would use its veto right to reject the resolution, one is left with two conclusions: the rest of the Security Council wanted the US to veto the resolution, or they care more about protecting Hamas than civilians in Gaza.
Perhaps the fourteen UNSC countries want Israel to continue the war but want to placate their pro-Palestinian constituents, appearing to support Gazans while knowing that no relief would happen until Hamas is defeated. Maybe the countries want Israel and the United States to both look isolated – the “little Satan” and “Big Satan” as the Islamic Republic of Iran calls them – hoping to curry favor among the Global South, with 80% of the world’s population.
Either way, the world cannot really believe there is a genocide happening in Gaza, if the path to a ceasefire was simply adding two lines calling for Hamas to surrender.
The United Nations Security Council met once more about Gaza on March 18, 2025, and the parade of charges against Israel’s conduct in its defensive war was to similar tunes.
Tom Fletcher, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, criticized Israel for halting aid into the terrorist enclave and for preventing UNRWA for operating freely. He would go on to also comment on Israel’s operations to root out terrorists in the West Bank.
Countries from the Global South, the majority of which recognize a Palestinian state, followed his remarks, starting with Algeria, Somalia, Sierra Leone from Africa, and Guyana in South America. Only Sierra Leone would condemn Hamas (29:45) even though it would equate the Israeli hostages with “detainees” held by Israel.
Then the representative of the United States, Dorothy Shea, took the floor.
At every moment, Shea would call out Hamas. She referred to it as a “brutal terrorist organization” which has a “disregard for human life.” It demanded Hamas “release the hostages it abducted” and called out the group’s refusal to do so and extend the ceasefire.
Shea mentioned “Hamas” thirteen times, and only stopped discussing “Hamas’s savagery” which “threatens peace and stability” when she pivoted to the opportunity to reshape the region for a better and more prosperous future.
France, a member of the Global North, spoke next and it condemned Hamas’s attack of October 7 but did not call for Hamas to be eliminated. Further, it said that “a global political resolution” to the conflict was needed, not only trying to sideline Israel’s military operation but the country’s effort to work a bilateral agreement with the Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs).
The representative of Panama spoke next and at 51:15 specifically called out Hamas’s attack of October 7, its refusal to abide by commitments to release Israeli hostages and condemned the group.
The Global North continued with Russia and Slovenia speaking next and both gave Hamas a complete pass. The United Kingdom and Greece said that Hamas can have no role in a future Gaza but did not condemn the political-terrorist group.
Pakistan and China ignored Hamas. South Korea would only condemn Hamas’s abduction of hostages. Denmark condemned both Hamas’s October 7 massacre and taking of hostages and said there can be no role for Hamas in the future of Gaza.
The sorry state of the UNSC barely mentioning and condemning Hamas and calling for it to face maximum justice is not new. When the council first met in October 2023 at the start of Hamas’s war, only the United States would call out Hamas. At that time I wrote “If and when the United Nations can call out the evil of Hamas, thousands of lives in the region will be saved, and the terrorist group will be on a path for elimination. I am not optimistic.”
We are tens of thousands of dead later, and only a few countries in the Global North have started to call out Hamas, led by Denmark and Panama. The relative silence from France, the United Kingdom, Greece and South Korea is disappointing. The behavior of Slovenia and Russia is appalling.
The countries of the Global North at the UN Security Council must lead in clearly condemning Hamas and insisting that it be dismantled completely. Thousands of additional lives are at stake.
ACTION ITEMS
Thank the United States government and its mission to the UN at (212) 415-4000 for being a leader for placing the blame for the war and ongoing suffering squarely on Hamas.
Thank the governments of Panama (emb@panama-un.org, 212.421.5420) and Denmark (nycmis@um.dk, 212.308.7009) for clearly condemning Hamas.
Contact the UN missions from France (212.702.4900), the UK (212.745.9200), Greece (212.888.6900, grdel.un@mfa.gr), and South Korea (212.439.4000, korea.un@mofa.go.kr) and ask them to do more.
Vilify Russia (212.861.4900) and Slovenia (212.370.3007) for allowing barbarism to go unmentioned and putting thousands of additional lives at risk.
But the UNSC has refused to collectively condemn the Palestinian political-terrorist group Hamas when several resolutions were introduced over the past two months.
The UNSC ultimately did pass Resolution 2728 calling for a ceasefire for the remainder of Ramadan, and only the United States, United Kingdom, Russia and Israel condemned Hamas and its attacks during their comments. The rest of the council remained silent and refused to endorse a prior US-led proposal which included formal language condemning Palestinian terrorism.
The countries which refused to condemn Palestinian barbarism included:
Algeria
China
Ecuador
France
Guyana
Japan
Malta
Mozambique
Korea
Sierra Leone
Slovenia
Switzerland
Note that in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 atrocities, the UN Security Council did not issue any statement condemning the Palestinian barbarity. It did not address the attack until Russia tried to pass a ceasefire resolution a week later on October 16, to protect Hamas terrorists as Israel responded.
In sharp contrast to the brutal slaughter of 1,200 people in Israel and taking of 250 hostages, the UNSC issued the following denunciation of terrorism just one day after six people were killed in Pakistan on March 26:
“The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous and cowardly terrorist attack near Besham, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan, on 26 March which resulted in the deaths of five Chinese nationals and one Pakistani national.
“The members of the Security Council expressed their deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the Governments of Pakistan and China, and they wished a speedy and full recovery to those who were injured.
“The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security.
“The members of the Security Council underlined the need to hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice. They urged all States, in accordance with their obligations under international law and relevant Security Council resolutions, to cooperate actively with the Governments of Pakistan and China, as well as all other relevant authorities in this regard.
“The members of the Security Council reiterated that any acts of terrorism are criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation, wherever, whenever and by whomsoever committed. They reaffirmed the need for all States to combat by all means, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and other obligations under international law, including international human rights law, international refugee law and international humanitarian law, threats to international peace and security caused by terrorist acts.“
Imagine the UNSC issuing such a statement for Israel. The failure to do so after October 7 sums up the United Nations.
The United Nations is deeply and systemically anti-Israel and the United States caved to the global body rather than lead in a principled fashion. It is imperative for the United States and other moral countries to send as much military aid to Israel as possible to both finish Hamas and prepare for war against Iran’s other proxies which surround the Jewish state, and simultaneously cut funding to the horrific global agency.
Over the past week, several resolutions were put forward at the United Nations Security Council to advance a ceasefire in the 2023 Israel-Hamas War. Each failed, regardless of whether the resolution was written by Brazil, Russia or the United States.
The first failure was because the text did not explicitly call out Hamas as being a terrorist group, deserving of complete condemnation for the gruesome butchery it committed against people in Israel on October 7. Not all countries label Hamas a terrorist group (appallingly) but some wordsmithing allowed parties to just condemn the actions of October 7 without calling the group terrorists.
A more difficult pickle exists for the members of the UNSC about stating that Israel – like every other country – has a right to defend itself. The UN has adopted Palestinians as their perennial wards and is loathe to state the obvious, which will result in death and injury in Gaza.
Time and again, the UN has excused and ignored Palestinian terrorism. Over and again it has demanded that Israel use ‘utmost restraint’ after heinous Palestinian terrorism, while it tells every other country to bring ‘perpetrators to justice.’
Will the UNSC finally say that the Jewish State has the right to defend itself and bring the 1,500 Hamas terrorists and its leadership to justice? Will the carrot of a ceasefire be enough to say a basic truth aloud?
US Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield
Members of the UN have condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza as a form of collective punishment against all Gazans while they ignore the collective punishment of terrorism. Israel has an obligation to root out the terrorists and bring the hostages home. A UN failure to acknowledge those simple facts will brand the agency forever as an antisemitic cesspool and gateway for global anarchy.
ACTION ITEM
Email White House “Support Israel’s right and obligation to defend itself against the horrible Palestinian terrorist groups pulling people out of their homes for torture and death”
On December 23, 2016, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution condemning Israeli settlements east of the Green Line as “illegal” and called for the removal of all of them, including those in Jerusalem. It passed because the US decided to abstain, rather than veto such resolutions as it typically does.
There is a pathway to right this wrong, as a new US administration and head of the United Nations will soon take over.
On December 12, 2016, former Prime Minister of Portugal Antonio Guterres was sworn in as the new United Nations Secretary General, and on December 19, Republican Donald Trump secured the electoral college to become the next president of the United States. Both men can restart positive relations with the State of Israel. The recommendations listed below are just a few positive actions that can promote peace in the Middle East.
Positive Actions for the United States
President Barack Obama had a very rocky relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It was not simply a matter of personal chemistry; Obama took various steps to create significant “daylight” between the US and Israel. Trump can fix those Obama missteps.
1. Recommit to the 2004 Bush Letter.
On April 14, 2004, US President George W Bush wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, giving Israel assurances of US support in conjunction with Sharon’s planned withdrawal of Israeli presence from Gaza. The language in the letter had bipartisan support, and the 2008 Democratic Platform used key clauses from the letter as its official policy regarding Israel.
However, Obama opted to ignore the letter and all of the US commitments. He gutted key components of US assurances, and had the 2012 Democratic platform remove all of the Israeli-oriented positions completely.
Those commitments from President Bush included:
“United States will do its utmost to prevent any attempt by anyone to impose any other plan.”
“Palestinians must undertake an immediate cessation of armed activity and all acts of violence against Israelis anywhere, and all official Palestinian institutions must end incitement against Israel. The Palestinian leadership must act decisively against terror, including sustained, targeted, and effective operations to stop terrorism and dismantle terrorist capabilities and infrastructure.”
“Palestinians must undertake a comprehensive and fundamental political reform that includes a strong parliamentary democracy and an empowered prime minister.”
“The United States reiterates its steadfast commitment to Israel’s security, including secure, defensible borders, and to preserve and strengthen Israel’s capability to deter and defend itself, by itself, against any threat or possible combination of threats.”
“Israel will retain its right to defend itself against terrorism, including to take actions against terrorist organizations.”
“The United States will lead efforts, working together with Jordan, Egypt, and others in the international community, to build the capacity and will of Palestinian institutions to fight terrorism, dismantle terrorist organizations, and prevent the areas from which Israel has withdrawn from posing a threat that would have to be addressed by any other means.”
“It seems clear that an agreed, just, fair, and realistic framework for a solution to the Palestinian refugee issue as part of any final status agreement will need to be found through the establishment of a Palestinian state, and the settling of Palestinian refugees there, rather than in Israel.”
“In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli populations centers, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949, and all previous efforts to negotiate a two-state solution have reached the same conclusion.”
“the barrier being erected by Israel should be a security rather than political barrier, should be temporary rather than permanent, and therefore not prejudice any final status issues including final borders”
“the United States supports the establishment of a Palestinian state that is viable, contiguous, sovereign, and independent”
“the United States believes that all states in the region have special responsibilities: to support the building of the institutions of a Palestinian state; to fight terrorism, and cut off all forms of assistance to individuals and groups engaged in terrorism; and to begin now to move toward more normal relations with the State of Israel.”
The Trump administration should recommit to these principles that were abandoned under Obama.
2. Clearly Define that the Obstacle to Peace is anti-normalization, not settlements.
The goal of two-states living in peace starts with the desire to live in peace, not the desire for two states. A Palestinian Authority leadership that incites violence cannot be rewarded with a state. Parties that engage in BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) of Israel or Israeli territories are anti-Semitic and work against a two state solution.
Obama inverted this formulation, and pushed for two states before pushing for peace. He fought Israeli settlements, including asking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze settlements in 2009, shortly after assuming office. No movement was made by the Palestinian Authority to advance peace. No matter, Obama took a parting shot at Israel by allowing the UN Security Council resolution labeling the settlements as illegal, as if that would advance peace.
Trump should focus on stopping the Arab incitement to violence and glorification of murderers. Penalties should be assessed including withholding US financial assistance and meeting with American leaders should the Palestinian Authority not reform.
3. Terror must be stopped and fought completely.
As the world has started to confront terror in recent years, much the way Israel has since being reestablished, it has fought the terrorism with absolute clarity and global support. Not so for Israel.
Obama asked Israel to confront terrorism with “reasonableness and restraint,” something that the US hasn’t done in its ongoing war against terrorism since September 11, 2001.
Donald Trump should give Israel the same complete support in combatting evil, as every other country in the world is offered when it confronts terrorism.
4. Recognize Anti-Semitism
For a reason only known to him, President Obama was loathe to call out anti-Semitism.
When Islamic terrorists killed people in Paris, France, including in a kosher supermarket, Obama called that attack “random,” and his administration twisted itself to refrain from stating the obvious – that the killers went to kill Jews.
When Obama gave his final State of the Union address, he once again decided to call out “Islamophobia” in the United States, as he did often in his presidency. He did this even though an average Jew is two times more likely to be targeted by hate crimes than an average Muslim. But there was no mention of anti-Semitism.
The Jewish State is not oblivious to the treatment of Jews in America and France, home to the largest concentration of Jews outside of Israel. By recognizing anti-Semitism with a fraction of the concern that Obama showed for Islamophobia, would be a very positive step for US-Israel relations.
Donald Trump addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition, December 2015 (photo: FirstOneThrough)
5. Clarity: Settlements are not illegal; no Hamas in a Palestinian Unity Government
In taking the four actions noted above, the United States government will once again underscore its long-held bipartisan approaches to Israel. Repeating the assurance that Israel must have “defensible borders” that will not “return to the Armistice lines of 1949,” recognizes that many Israeli settlements over the Green Line will be incorporated into Israel. This is a sharp reversal from the anti-Semitic comments of the Obama administration that felt that any Jew living over the Green Line – even in existing apartments in Jerusalem – are anti-peace, and now, with a wink to the UNSC resolution, illegal.
Further, understanding that Israel must “take actions against terrorist organizations” like Hamas, offers more support to banning the organization from any Palestinian unity government.
The Trump administration should underscore these two points clearly, as it can have a positive impact in how other allies and the United Nations treat Israel.
Positive Actions for the United Nations
The United Nations is a cesspool of autocrats and dictators.
The UN is the poster child of a “bucket of deplorables” of homophobes, anti-Semites, misogynists, xenophobes and racists. As such, the UN Secretary General is often viewed as the deplorable mascot.
It is difficult – ney, impossible – to get many of these countries to be civil, and the UNSG cannot enforce peaceful interactions in the world. However, he can make changes to how the institution itself runs, and his own comments as they relate to Israel.
1. Fold UNRWA into the UNHCR
The United Nations created an organization for Palestinian Arab refugees on December 8, 1949. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) was created as a temporary agency to help Arabs that lost their homes after five neighboring Arab countries invaded Israel after it declared statehood in May 1948. Today, UNRWA has morphed into something unrecognizable, giving “refugee” status to millions of descendants of refugees and perpetuating a conflict.
As the incoming UNSG knows, having served as the High Commissioner of Refugees from 2005 to 2015, there is another UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, which works with ACTUAL refugees that are fleeing war zones. It provides real relief for families in transition. It works with millions of refugees from around the world with a fraction of the budget of UNRWA.
More significantly, the UNHCR focuses on providing services for civilians without taking sides in a conflict. Not so UNRWA, which consistently attacks Israel and tells grandchildren of refugees that – with UNRWA’s help – they will return to homes and villages that no longer exist in Israel.
UNRWA perpetuates the suffering of the stateless Arabs from Palestine, and the ongoing conflict with Israel. Over the course of five years, UNRWA should be closed and services should be transitioned to the same relief agency that the rest of the world uses, UNHCR. The descendants of refugees from the 1948-9 Israeli-Arab war should have their ability to obtain services gradually withdrawn.
2. Isolate Iran
Any United Nations member state that threatens to destroy another member state should be completely isolated. Such a state should no longer be allowed to chair any committee. It should no longer be allowed to vote on any resolution. Its flag should be removed from the hall and from the exterior of the all United Nations buildings.
The inspections of the nuclear facilities should not just be rigorous in ensuring that Iran is in compliance. It should be reinforced without any rights or approvals by Iran.
Such treatment should remain in place until such state clearly rescinds such threats.
3. Remove the Standing Measure Against Israel
The UN Human Rights Council has a standing agenda item to criticize only one country in the world – Israel. It must stop the practice immediately.
4. Clean House in the UN Media Centre
The UN has a press group that summarizes the many sessions that happen at the sprawling UN and its many agencies. It selects what items to cover, which people to highlight and the quotes to cover in the stories.
In an organization which is littered with Israel-bashers, the UN Media Centre takes the hate to yet another level. It edits quotes from people that appear sympathetic to Israel and magnifies injuries by Palestinian Arabs. That is not a recipe for fairness or to advance peace. It is a form of incitement itself.
5. Clarity: No Hamas in the Palestinian Government; Stand with Israel
In addition to fixing the anti-Israel bias that is structurally part of the UN, Antonio Guterres should make his own opinions about the Israeli-Arab relationship known.
Outgoing UNSG Ban Ki Moon often stated that he stood with Gaza, and encouraged Hamas to become part of a Palestinian Authority unity government. It was disgusting and disgraceful to every Israeli and civilized person to watch the head of the UN promote a vile anti-Semitic terrorist group that openly calls for killing Jews and destroying Israel. The sentiment was aggravated by Ban Ki Moon’s never stating that he stood with Israel in its fight against terrorism.
Mr. Guterres should be clear that he supports Israel and every country’s fight against terror. He must be clear that there is no room for Hamas in any conversation whatsoever, until it replaces its charter and states that it seeks peace with Israel.
The United States had historically been the best and biggest ally of Israel, while the United Nations abused the Jewish State as if the organization was the reincarnation of the Spanish Inquisition. Obama left his legacy as a horrific foreign policy president, as he threw his lot in with the real bucket of deplorables.
With the five steps outlined above for both the US and UN, the relationship with Israel can be reset, and the cause of peace in the region advanced.
First One Through 