All bureaucracies are slow to change, especially those most in need of such reforms. The United Nations is a case in point. Yet, despite its reluctance, the almost 73-year-old organization is finally feeling the winds of change, thanks to the United States.
The UN budget is bloated and priorities misplaced. This is why the United States, with the support of allies such as Israel, led the way in negotiating a $285 million reduction of the UN budget for 2018-2019. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has also proposed his own reforms aimed at, among other things, increasing transparency and accountability.
But cutting waste isn’t enough. Real change will mean resetting the UN’s moral compass. That task, too, is being taken up by the Trump administration.
Since the president took office in 2017, his administration has made clear that blatantly anti-Israel actions at the UN will not go without a response. In March 2017, just two months after Ambassador Nikki Haley took office, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia issued an infuriating report declaring Israel an apartheid regime. Within hours, Haley and I issued public statements expressing our outrage.
The reactions were swift. UN officials quickly distanced themselves from the report, and two days later, agency chief Rima Khalaf quit.
A watershed moment occurred recently at the Security Council — the UN’s most significant organ. This was the very same body where an American abstention under the previous administration allowed the shameful Resolution 2334 to pass, designating the Jewish presence in Jerusalem’s Old City as “a flagrant violation of international law.”
It’s the same body where Haley was forced to veto a resolution in December censuring the US for recognizing the simple historical fact that Jerusalem has been the capital of the Jewish people for thousands of years and today serves as the seat of government for the state of Israel.
This time, when states tried to pass a resolution denying Israel’s right to defend itself, the US offered a two-pronged response in addition to its veto. First, following our revelation that the proposed resolution failed to even mention the terrorists of Hamas, let alone hold them responsible for the violence, Haley and her team successfully lobbied a number of key countries not to support the Kuwaiti-sponsored resolution.
Second, the US tabled its own resolution, rightfully naming Hamas and holding them responsible for the almost 200 rockets and missiles fired at Israeli communities over the past few weeks. The resolution also made clear that it is Hamas that is endangering the lives of innocent Palestinians by using them as human shields while seeking to attack the security fence between Gaza and Israel.
Last week, the US used a similar approach in the General Assembly. When Turkey and Algeria proposed a biased resolution criticizing Israel for the violence in Gaza, the US countered with an amendment calling for Hamas’ condemnation. The result sent shockwaves throughout the GA hall as the amendment passed 62-58 with 42 abstentions.
While Algeria was able to use procedural maneuvers to block the amendment, the message was clear: The automatic majority against Israel ingrained for decades in the workings of the United Nations has been cracked.
And on Tuesday, the US announced its withdrawal from the UN Human Rights Council. The council has long been the foe of those who truly care about human rights around the world. Washington has proved, yet again, America’s commitment to truth and justice and its unwillingness to allow the blind hatred of Israel in international institutions to stand unchallenged.
We know there are too many elements stacked against Israel and too many years of biased resolutions and reports to believe that enacting real change in what was once-billed the “parliament of nations” will be simple.
But persistence pays off in the long run. More and more countries continue to join us every day, representing the emergence of a new UN moral majority. This battle is long, but we have faith in the justness of our cause and know that the rules of the game have already begun to change at the United Nations.
Danny Danon is Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations.