Israel's embattled UN envoy hits back hard as the Gaza crisis worsens

Israel has long accused the U.N. of bias in favor of the Palestinian cause. Erdan describes the world body as a politicized institution where Israel is outnumbered and out-voted by non-democracies and a large bloc of Muslim countries. In the past decade, the General Assembly has adopted about 230 critical resolutions concerning Israel, more than five times the number of texts on Russia, Iran or Myanmar, according to a tally compiled by Bloomberg News.

In addition to the failure of U.N. members to formally condemn the attack by Hamas, Israel has alleged that employees of the U.N.’s main relief agency in the Palestinian territories actually participated in the attack, prompting a review.

Yellow star

Yet Israel’s conduct of the war has left Erdan increasingly open to criticism. U.N. agencies have called for an end to the fighting and warned of “man-made” famine in Gaza, while a U.N.-appointed expert has accused Israel of genocide.

Erdan — a veteran politician who served as Israel’s minister of public security and previously led an effort to counter activists targeting Israel with a boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign — has fought back. Early in the Gaza conflict, he pinned a yellow star to the lapel of his suit, like those the Nazis once forced Jews to wear.

“I am left with no other choice,” he said, than “to find creative ways — some might call them shocking ways, I don’t care — but to draw the attention of the civilized world to what the Israeli people are enduring.”

The move was condemned by the head of the Yad Vashem Holocaust remembrance center in Jerusalem, who said it “dishonors both the victims of the Holocaust and the State of Israel.” In November, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun, while presiding over the Security Council, interrupted Erdan’s fiery speech on the war to remind him to please “show some basic respect.”

Israel “squandered the sympathy and solidarity after October 7th by carrying out a horrific, unprecedented war of destruction on Gaza,” said Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington who previously advised Palestinian leaders. “And they cannot understand how the world does not see the reality exactly as they see it.”