UN 'stained by anti-Semitism', Israeli ambassador claims amid deepening row over response to Iranian strikes

3 October 2024, 06:00 | Updated: 3 October 2024, 06:52

UN 'stained by anti-Semitism', Israeli ambassador claims amid deepening row over response to Iranian

The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations has claimed that the UN is 'stained by anti-Semitism', amid a deepening row over its response to Tuesday's Iranian bombing barrage.

Danny Danon told LBC's Nick Ferrari that the UN was claiming a moral equivalence between Israel and Iran, after secretary-general Antonio Guterres failed to condemn Tehran's bombing explicitly in a statement on Tuesday.

Mr Guterres was banned from entering Israel on Wednesday, the country's foreign minister Israel Katz said, in response to the secretary-general's statement, which called for a ceasefire in general terms.

Mr Danon, who is a member of Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party, and a former minister, said that Israel had been "very disappointed" in the UN and Mr Guterres since the October 7 attacks almost a year ago.

He said: "While we were still counting the bodies of hundreds of Israelis, he put out a statement that looks like a justification for the attack, saying there was no vacuum - that was unacceptable.

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"It continued with the fact that under [Mr Guterres'] leadership, the UN is silent. There was no condemnation of Hamas, not in the General Assembly, not in the Security Council."

Mr Guterres did say after the October 7 attack that he "condemns" Hamas' attack "in the strongest terms".

But he prompted anger later that October when he claimed that the attacks "did not happen in a vacuum", in reference to the long-term conflict between Israel and Hamas. "The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation," he said at the time.

Mr Guterres' statement on Tuesday after the Iranian bombing, which saw 180 missiles launched into Israel, sparked more fury in Israel for not singling out Iran.

He said: "I condemn the broadening of the Middle East conflict with escalation after escalation. This must stop. We absolutely need a ceasefire."

Mr Danon said that the secretary-general's most recent statement "was a very low moment" and called it "an immoral equation."

He added: "Many, many people in Israel are disappointed. You know, we value the work of the UN but I we believe that there should be a very clear and strong condemnation against Iran, and no one can put us on the same side."

Mr Danon also claimed that if the UN existed in World War Two, they would say that the UK and the Nazis were moral equivalents.

Asked about the Israeli bombing of Lebanon in recent weeks and this week's ground incursion, which preceded the bombing by Iran, Mr Danon said: "We always prefer peace and diplomatic solutions, but when you have a member state of the UN sending 180 ballistic missiles to another member state of the UN, you expect the UN to condemn the aggressor."

In an apparent reference to the Blitz, Mr Danon said: "What we experienced in Israel last night... it reminded the police of London.

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"The entire population, ten million people, had to seek shelter and run for to bomb shelter within ten minutes. That's equivalent to the entire population of New York City running for shelters at one moment.

"So we believe that, yes, it's legitimate to call for de-escalation, but one cannot put Israel and Iran in the same sentence."

Mr Danon called for the UN to "issue a clear condemnation" of Iran and designate the the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organisation.

Israel and the UN have clashed repeatedly over Gaza and the West Bank, and the Israeli government has claimed links between Hamas and the UN's operations in Gaza.

Meanwhile Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was booed by some countries' delegates after speaking to the UN last week.

Mr Danon said that some of the criticism of Israel by the UN was valid, but some was motivated by anti-Semitism.

"When you look at the definition of anti-Semitism, you look at the double standards, and when you see the way Israel is being treated, you ask yourself, why it's being treated differently?" he asked.

"And unfortunately, it is the case - not always. You know, we are open to criticism. If we made mistakes, we should admit it, but sometimes you realise it's not criticism, it's pure hate."

Pressed by Nick if anti-Semitism was "alive and well" in the UN, Mr Danon said: "Unfortunately, it is, and I still make the distinction, not every criticism of Israel is anti-Semitism, but when you see the standards they're using about us, when we defend ourselves, we believe that some parts of the UN unfortunately [bear] the stain of anti-Semitism."

As well as the UN, governments of many countries including the UK and US have called for ceasefires in Lebanon and Gaza amid fears that the regional conflict could escalate further.

Asked how peace could be achieved, Mr Danon told Nick it was "very simple" - returning the hostages and allowing residents of northern Israel, subjected to a Hezbollah bombing campaign, to return to their homes.

"We are defending ourselves, and we expect the international community to recognise that fact," he said.

Mr Danon added: "Imagine you had 100 British citizens today in captivity. What will the UK government do? Will they say: 'That's it... after a year, we call it a day'.

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"No, the responsibility of the government is to protect its citizens, and once Hamas broke the fence, kidnapped people from the homes, from the beds, we have the responsibility to bring them back.

"It can be over tomorrow, if the hostages will be released. It can be over tomorrow, but we will not stop until we bring all of them back home."

Mr Danon admitted that it was unlikely that all of the remaining hostages were still alive, but said that "the majority" were probably still living.

"We expect that they will be released, either through a ceasefire... or, if not, we will continue to apply military pressure and to create the conditions to bring them home," he said.

LBC has contacted the UN for comment.