Israeli UN Ambassador confident Israel will get seat at UN Security Council

Israel’s UN ambassador believes the US can help Israel get a seat at the UN Security Council. 

The United States will strongly back Israel’s candidacy for one of the 10 non-permanent members nominated to the United Nations Security Council in 2019, Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon told the Jerusalem Post. 

“I think that it is clear that we will get the support of the US,” Danon said in the same interview. “I think that we can even expect active support for this important bid.”

Nominees for the two-year term at the UN Security Council are selected according to their regional geographic location, and Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has yet to be chosen. Unlike other countries slotted in the UN’s Asia-Pacific region, Israel is in the “Western European and Others” regional group due to adamant rejection of Muslim countries in Asia to Israel’s inclusion.

Danon’s predecessor Ron Prosor told Reuters in 2013 of Israel’s quest for UN Security Council membership, saying that “(Israel is) going all out to win. It’s about time.”

It will be a challenge for Israel to get the necessary approval of two-thirds of UN member states, as it will have to contend with a bloc of Muslim countries and other hostile states like North Korea, who are expected to vociferously oppose Israel’s candidacy.

Nevertheless, Danon said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recognizes “a new reality” at the UN with the Trump administration in charge.

Addressing this year’s annual AIPAC conference (American Israel Public Affairs Committee), US Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, emphasized that there’s a “new sheriff in town” regarding the fight against anti-Israel bias at the UN.  A month later, Haley assumed the rotating position of president for the UN Security Council and announced that Israel will not be at the top of the council’s Middle East agenda during her month-long tenure.

By: Jonathan Benedek, World Israel News

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