On the 11th of May 1949 the State of Israel was admitted as the 59th member of the United Nations (UN). Since that moment Israel has participated in a large number of UN operations and sought to fully contribute to UN organizations in the fields of healthcare, work, food and agriculture, education and science. Israel is actively involved in the work of non-governmental organizations performed under the auspices of the UN, in various fields such as aviation, immigration, meteorology, trade and the position of women.

 

Several UN resolutions are crucial for Israel, including UN Security Council Resolutions 242 (November 1967) and 338 (October 1973). These refer to a agreed structure for the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

 

The UN have been involved, over the years, in ending hostilities between Israel and its Arab neighbors, by appointing mediators, by backing cease-fire and armistice resolutions and by stationing UN forces between parties.

 

On the other hand, the UN have been used for years as a battlefield in a political war against Israel. The 21 Arab states formed an ‘automatic majority’ with the Islamic countries, the non-aligned movement and the former communist countries, in order to ensure that anti-Israel resolutions were adopted in the UN General Assembly.

 

Since the end of the Cold War, and with the ongoing peace process in the Middle East, the resolutions on Israel that are passed in the General Assembly have become somewhat more balanced in their approach. Recently Israel reinforced its involvement in UN activities all over the world.

 

Click here for additional general information on relations between Israel and the United Nations.

More specific information on relations between Israel and the United Nations you will find here.

UN resolutions pertaining to Israel: click here.

For speeches, letters and statements of Israeli leaders and ambassadors, addressed to the United Nations: click here.