‘Shameful, disgrace’ – UN declares Israel’s establishment a catastrophe

“By passing such an extreme and baseless resolution, the UN is only helping to perpetuate the conflict,” said Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan.

By World Israel News Staff

The UN General Assembly voted to formally recognize “Nakba Day,” an annual memorial event characterizing the establishment of the State of Israel as a disaster, in a major victory for pro-Palestinian activists on Wednesday.

The word “Nakba,” which means catastrophe in Arabic, has been used to describe the 1948 War of Independence that led to the creation of the Jewish State.

The UN resolution, which was sponsored by the Palestinian delegation to the UN, Egypt, Jordan, Senegal, Yemen and Tunisia, calls for the “commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, including by organizing a high-level event at the General Assembly Hall” on May 15th, 2023.

Both Egypt and Jordan have decades-old peace treaties with Israel, though tensions with Jordan deteriorated in recent years.

Israel’s new “friends” in the Arab world, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan supported the anti-Israel resolution.

“Today the #UNGA passed a shameful resolution calling for an official event to commemorate the Palestinian ‘Nakba’ on the 75th Anniversary of the creation of the State of Israel,” wrote Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan. “By passing such an extreme and baseless resolution, the UN is only helping to perpetuate the conflict.”

“Try to imagine the international community commemorating your country’s Independence Day by calling it a disaster. What a disgrace,” Erdan added. “The Palestinians’ lies must no longer be accepted on the world stage, just as this body must stop allowing the Palestinians to continue pulling its strings. I urge you all to stop blindly supporting the Palestinians’ libels.”

90 countries voted in favor of the resolution, 30 voted against, and 47 abstained.

The U.S. and several European countries, including the UK, Italy, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, and the Netherlands voted against the resolution. Notably, Ukraine abstained from voting on the measure, just weeks after voting in favor of a resolution that the UN human rights committee should investigate Israel for alleged war crimes and apartheid.

“Many of these resolutions have budgetary implications in favor of aid to the Palestinians, UNRWA, all sorts of things like that,” former Israeli Ambassador to France David Shek told i24 News.

“Then looking a little bit lower, the symbolic dimension and symbolic importance — clearly the Palestinians need this in order to keep the issue alive,” he added.

“And last I think that at the lowest level of importance is the political dimension. I don’t think that this adds any real bearing. You might say unfortunately that UN General Assembly resolutions don’t have any bearing on reality but this is more a ritual than a turning point.”

Gilad ErdanIndependence DayNakbaNakba DayUnited Nations