Israel Seeks Seat on U.N. Security Council

Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said on Wednesday that Israel has set its sights on obtaining a nonpermanent seat on the Security Council.

In an article on the Politico website, Mr. Danon acknowledged the difficulties inherent in achieving the goal, considering the hostility toward Israel among many U.N. member states, a two-thirds majority of whom are needed to approve membership on the council.

However, he cited his appointment last year to chair the Sixth (Legal) Committee, making him the first Israeli to chair a permanent committee at the U.N., as a hard-won precedent.

“What is usually a position confirmed by consensus became a protracted and complicated campaign in which we had to cajole and persuade 109 countries to cast their ballot for an Israeli,” he wrote of the process to gain approval for his appointment.

But, “with this victory as a model, Israel has set the ambitious goal of obtaining one of the three nonpermanent WEOG seats on the Security Council in 2019.”

In making the case for Israel’s membership on the council, Danon did not ingratiate himself:

“Make no mistake about it, we are as deserving as any nation of this leadership role: Israel funds a higher percentage of the U.N. budget than the other 65 countries yet to serve on the Security Council combined. Moreover, few countries have Israel’s firsthand experience in the failures of the U.N.—and acute awareness of the possibilities were this organization to be set on the right path.”

“The past few months have raised serious questions about the credibility of the U.N. as a whole, and the Security Council in particular as it continues its unending obsession with Israel, while paying way too little attention to the other ills of the world. By electing Israel to serve on the Security Council, the members of the U.N. will make a strong statement, finally accepting the Jewish state as a full and equal member,” Danon concluded.