The UN general assembly has voted overwhelmingly to back the Palestinian bid for full UN membership, in a move that signalled Israel’s growing isolation on the world stage amid global alarm over the war in Gaza and the extent of the humanitarian crisis in the strip. The move drew an immediate rebuke from Israel. Its envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, delivered a fiery denunciation of the resolution and its backers before the vote, and fed pages of the UN charter into a shredder. The Palestinian envoy, Riyad Mansour, highlighted that the vote was being held at a time when Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city that is the last haven for many people, faced attack from Israeli forces
Here’s the video of that moment. Warning: massive cringe
“You are shredding the UN charter…with your own hands.”
As he shreds the UN charter…with his own hands.
With a tiny shredder that he calls “a mirror”. Clown show.
“Fiery denunciation” is a laughable overstatement, and the fact that they planned out this mini tantrum with a mini paper shredder is just outright comical.
‘You are shredding the UN charter with your own hands!’ In between him putting each page of the charter into the shredder… smh
Deeply embarrassing, why didn’t he just tear it up?
Isn’t that the charter that…also acknowledges the statehood of Israel?
I remember an Israeli pundit once complained that the UN creating Israel was “the mortgage that never ends” because the Israeli government absolutely loves to demonize the UN but still depends on it.
I think of Karen videos when I see Israel. She is so sensitive and irrational, but yet the US keeps giving her what she wants and only turning her into a bigger Karen. When she doesn’t get her way she calls you antisemitic and says you hate Jews.
I heard the UN awarded this Israeli envoy Erdan the UN’s Yellow Star of Cringe award. Just search for ‘UN Israel envoy yellow star’ to see the ceremony that occurred in Oct 2023.
Israel’s United Nations ambassador displayed a yellow star on his chest Monday as he addressed the Security Council, provocatively pledging to wear the badge until members of the body condemn Hamas “atrocities”.
Issued on: 31/10/2023 - 01:47Modified: 31/10/2023 - 09:23
2 min

His wearing of the badge, which has come to symbolise the oppression of Jews since its imposition in Nazi-occupied Europe, was swiftly criticised by Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, which urged him to wear the Israeli flag instead.
I saw both this and also this ambassador’s rebuke of the UN’s consideration of Palestinian statehood.
How utterly juvenile. Their full court press against a Palestinian state is splitting at its worst.
Most attorneys, given the chance to address the chamber, would make some sort of concession. Even Trump’s counsel have done so in his Supreme Court immunity case, which is already beyond real, erudite credibility based on the arguments they are making.
Israel cannot continue making these arguments, invoking the Holocaust, while they are indiscriminately killing tens of thousands of Gazan women and children.
It is almost a psychological reflex; as they continue to slaughter innocents, the enemy must be ever greater in order to justify their actions.
The histrionic and jarring and aggressive speeches made by Israel at the U.N. appear to underscore their complete lack of remorse, their callousness in their approach, and their privileged status over recent decades.
If the Israeli government cares about statehood, could they please manage to do what every other state does and describe their borders?
The complete lack of an attempt at damage control in these diplomatic speeches underlies their viciousness.
Holocaust denial or diminution is a real actual problem in younger generations because they haven’t interacted with relatives who have these horrors in living memory. It’s disgusting how they dither when asked about the Holocaust.
Israel has a legitimate right to defend its borders, there is no doubt. However, they shouldn’t have a carte blanche license to kill.
What happened to Mossad? They were meant to be the most surgical special intelligence service of the 20th century. Have they gotten lazy? Or is this a campaign to psychologically demolish an enemy? What happened to Israel’s scholars, who understand the concept of blowback?
Starving Gaza is a war crime and should be punished as such. Such godawful optics that Israel has incinerated the goodwill they enjoyed after the October 7th attacks.
This country is anti-freedom of the press (Al Jazeera, careful control of western journalists embedded with Israeli troops, complete exclusion of independent journalists in Gaza except for Gazan civilian reports, with many indiscriminately murdered Gazan journalists).
They have the audacity to be shocked when the ICC and the UN try to hold them to account for their excessive bloodlust.
It is my opinion that this change in approach is long overdue. Israel has been violating international law for decades with their continual incremental and violent expansion in the Golan Heights and making a modern day Ghetto out of the Gaza Strip.
You cannot kettle a population like they have been doing; restricting travel, but also imports of goods that sustain its people. It is positively disgraceful.
I hope that Biden continues to come around in substantive ways, and I’m encouraged by his shift on policy thus far. It must be hard for a very old man, with very old ties to his Israeli ally, with all of the political pressure he faces in the direction of supporting Israel no matter what, to be the first leader to balk at weapons shipments.
But to do otherwise would be at best grossly irresponsible and at worst, suborning genocide.
I really want to see this as the UN finally mending its ways, but seeing how they got Saudi Arabia for women’s rights chair and got caught denying doing anything for refugees in Thailand because “it would anger China”… I can’t help but see it as them playing to someone’s interest in creating chaos.
I don’t know who that would, what I know is trusting the UN’s motives isn’t a good bet lately.
but seeing how they got Saudi Arabia for women’s rights chair
I remember seeing a hot take that the political reason for this was because it removed SA’s “you’re just making up rules without our input” excuse when they got called out. Basically, by giving them the chair, it put a spotlight on their abuses and simultaneously removed any political excuses they had.
Meh. I’m fine with making rules without their input on any subject matter, and specially this one.
What a dork ass loser.
It’s probably less about telling off the UN and more about sound bites / video clips that will play well with his bosses and their political base back home.
Historically, right wing isolationist ideologues of all nationalities seem to cheer and double down when faced with international criticism. They know it’s them and their beliefs against the world and they have a fantasy that they can win, right up until an overwhelming number of them die for it.
Israel as a nation is not in a mood for self reflection and definitely doesn’t want to understand the hole their digging themselves into.
The video is amazing. He was actually trying to show to the assembly “what they were doing” to the UN charter.
Instead he created a golden moment of cringe comedy where he is the one putting the charter into a tiny shredder, and declaring “you make me sick” like a petulent child with the diminutive machine’s whirring in the background.
Especially compared to the Palestinian speech he made himself look like a total clown.
He should have eaten it. :)
This CNN article has a lot more information and context including who voted against the measure (nine countries including the US and Israel), the practical effects of the measure (new rights for Palestine to sponsor and support resolutions but still no vote), and what can be expected in the near future (a vote in the UN security council on whether to actually admit Palestine which might pass but which the US will veto).
Wonder why Czechia voted against the bill. Did I miss anything?
I’m Czech. No matter the party, our government always had Israel bootlickers. T. G. Masaryk, founder of Czechoslovakia, was anti-antisemitic. We share a prevailing fake feeling of tininess and vulnerability (in 1938, the Allies signed the Munich treaty, sacrificing us to Nazi Germany, and in 1968 our “partner” USSR invaded us for straying from hard Communism) even though we have strong allies and a decent standing in our respective regions. Our support mainly consists of shilling for Israel in international politics and preserving our Jewish sites while they provide tech investment and recently COVID vaccines. I think the government did send some aid but the average Czech does not care about Israel, as opposed to Ukraine, which was heavily donated to (and a huge number of its its refugees were accepted) thanks to our bad experience with Russia and a significant, well-behaved Ukrainian minority.
Thanks for the explainer!
I would say this has less to do with Israel bootlicking and more with US bootlicking (sure, not much difference but it’s always worth to remind that all this is because USA in the first place), Czech international politics look like made in Washington on all issues, which is visible especially lately when Visehrad group split on the Ukraine issue.
