As is typical of anything to do with the United Nations these days, there was a lot of grandstanding throughout last week’s General Assembly at the UN’s headquarters in New York, but not a whole lot of substance.
As always, though, these performances, there’s really no other way to put it, are very telling in their own way. They provide insight into the way certain countries are viewed on the world stage and just exactly what the UN represents.
Much of this, unsurprisingly, was based around Israel and the Gaza war, though, to be fair, not exclusively.
Notable Protests... or the Lack Thereof
For a start, I’m very pleased to be able to say that there was a healthy Free Iran rally outside the conference.
Not a “free Iran from the US” rally, which is to be expected of a world that thinks the main thing afflicting the Iranian people is the United States army, but one that called out the Islamic Republic for its endless, unspeakably brutal sins against its “own” people.
These protests were, of course, organised by several Iranian-American organisations, though they also drew the support of others who aren’t so blinded by their hatred of Trump, the West, or Israel that they cannot recognise the Islamic Republic for exactly what it is.
There were other protests too, including those against Trump, AI, and rising antisemitism worldwide, while a major, week-long rally around the climate crisis and the preservation of our world’s invaluable ecosystems also took place.
Unsurprisingly, though, all of these protests garnered very little media attention, no matter how important their message.
How could they when there was a massive anti-Netanyahu and anti-Israel protest taking place at the same time?
This was the one that pulled in the big-time celebrities, including Hannah Einbinder, Elliot Page, and Susan Sarandon, along with the massive headlines surrounding their arrests. Sure, they were arrested for obstructing traffic and disorderly conduct, not for their “brave stance” on Israel, but why let that get in the way of a good headline or these celebrities’ ridiculous victim narratives?
Notably, there were no comparable protests against Putin, whose invasion of Ukraine is well into its fifth year, nor against the genocide and humanitarian crisis in Sudan, the expanding presence of the Houthis in Yemen, or any of the other gross violations of human rights committed by other members of the United Nations.
Inside the General Assembly
Unlike the Free Iran protests outside the conference, objections to a typically unhinged, fanciful presentation by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian were limited strictly to Israel, whose delegation was entirely absent during his speech, and the United States, which staged a walkout before the presentation.
No real surprise, of course, as the Islamic Republic continues to be one of the UN’s most venerated members. It has been elected to a number of its committees, including several that deal with, of all things, human and women’s rights.
Which really says everything you need to know about the United Nations.
Beyond this, Israel also boycotted Turkey, while the Islamic Republic of Iran and Cuba boycotted Donald Trump.
Russia, again, was not boycotted. Even the Ukrainian delegation remained in the hall, though its members either turned away during the Russian presentation or wore headphones through it.
All of this, as you may have guessed, was absolutely dwarfed by reactions to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Some 77 countries either walked out of or were completely absent for Netanyahu’s presentation. This included much of the Arab League and wider Middle East, save for Bahrain and the UAE; 28 African nations, including South Africa; a number of South American countries like Brazil, Peru, Venezuela, and Cuba; and Asian countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.
Ireland and Spain also broke ranks with much of Europe and joined the boycott.
Netanyahu called the boycotters cowards during his speech and delivered a typically fiery defence of Israel, a condemnation of antisemitism worldwide, and an unflinching rebuttal of charges that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza.
Business as usual for the PM, then.
As many in Israel pointed out, the speech was as much about campaigning at home as changing minds internationally. At this point, nothing short of committing national suicide would change the minds of Israel’s many, many haters abroad.
What It Tells Us
Many of these facts speak for themselves, but it’s how they stand in relation, and in contrast, to one another that is particularly enlightening.
And, inevitably, how they stand in contrast to Israel.
It’s telling, for a start, just how much Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine seems to have faded both from the public consciousness and within the halls of the UN itself.
This is despite there being no real end in sight to the war, and the only reason it hasn’t ended in even greater catastrophe is that Russia greatly underestimated the resolve and tenacity of the Ukrainian people.
At the same time, though it was genuinely heartening to read that there were fairly robust protests against the Islamic Republic of Iran, it’s decidedly less heartening to realise that these protests were organised almost entirely by Iranian expats and that only Israel and the US demonstrated comparable opposition within the General Assembly itself.
This has been a year, after all, in which the Islamic Republic has sunk to new lows in its treatment of the Iranian people.
Over just two days in January this year, lest we forget, the Islamic Republic butchered somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 Iranian protesters. That means that a similar number of Iranians were killed over two days as Palestinian civilians died over two years of the Gaza war.
The exact number of civilians killed in both Gaza and Iran remains a subject of dispute, of course, but these appear to be the same basic ballpark figures for both. Again, though, one happened over two years, the other over two days.
And these are only two days out of nearly half a century of draconian rule.
Yet an overwhelming share of the ire, both inside the General Assembly and outside it, was reserved for Israel and its prime minister.
Not that there isn’t plenty to protest about Netanyahu and his far-right government. Hell, it’s practically a national pastime in Israel itself.
But considering that there has been an admittedly shaky ceasefire in Gaza and only limited engagement with Hamas and Hezbollah fighters who refuse to disarm, one has to wonder why the most protests, the most boycotts, and the most media coverage remain focused on the Jewish state.
Especially as Israel approaches another election, in which the seething hatred of Netanyahu abroad may only strengthen his political position at home.
Who Walked Out, and Who Stayed
There is something particularly interesting about who did and did not boycott Netanyahu’s speech.
An overwhelming majority of the 77 countries that boycotted the speech are governed by regimes that have faced serious accusations of corruption, oppression, incompetence, authoritarianism, theocracy, or some deadly mixture of the above.
Not all of them, of course, but a significant number.
Meanwhile, aside from Ireland and Spain, two countries where concerns about antisemitism have become increasingly prominent, other European representatives stayed put, as did most of the major liberal democracies in North America, Australia, and Japan.
This isn’t to say that all of these countries have wonderful relationships with Israel. Most don’t at this point. Nor are they free of their own problems at home, from which hatred of Israel has often proved to be an excellent distraction.
But they seem to at least be self-aware enough to realise how hypocritical, biased, and utterly absurd they would look if they boycotted the prime minister of Israel while remaining seated for representatives of the Islamic Republic, Putin’s Russia, and other, shall we say, “problematic” world leaders.
If only they could share some of that same self-awareness with the media, the protesters outside, and the United Nations as an organisation.
Ilan Preskovsky is a Johannesburg-based freelance writer who has covered everything from international politics and Jewish culture and religion to film and television reviews. His work has appeared online in publications including News24, Popverse, and BizNews, and in print in Business Day, Jewish Life Magazine, and The Star, among others.
