An Attempt to ‘Rethink’ – When Will the General Assembly Suspend Israel?

By Kathy Kelly

In a sense, Israel has already moved away from the norms upheld by the UN Charter, as it has consistently ignored UN treaties, resolutions and opinions.

The Biblical book of Job describes a series of catastrophes that relentlessly plague the main character, Job, who loses his prosperity, his home, his health and his children. Ultimately, a tormented Job curses both his own existence and the god who created him. Issues of evil, justice, and divine wisdom are explored, and while the book of Job surrenders divine wisdom to God, it recognizes that the work to be done here on earth is ours.

Numerous interpretations of the story exist, and more than one version circulated in the ancient Near East. One version ends with Job confessing repentance. “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and therefore I repent in dust and ashes.”

The Latin root for the word ‘repent’ is brush – to think. ‘Repentance’ indicates an attempt at reconsideration.

I think of Job’s surprising contrition as calls mount for the United Nations in 2024 to reconsider its relationship to Israel as a member state. Civil society groups are increasing pressure on permanent missions to the UN to expel Israel as a voting member of the General Assembly.

To paraphrase Pankraj Mishra: to write According to the New York Review of Books, a stunned world has watched in disbelief as the United States provided Israel with weapons that would enable mass murder in the Middle East.

Palestinians in the West Bank recently urged all organizations demanding UN compliance with the July 2024 International Criminal Court ruling to sign a letter available at World beyond war calling on the Member States of the United Nations General Assembly to fulfill their duties.

Following the potential of this letter, a new coalition, “Global Solidarity for Peace in Palestine”, has sent a letter to His Excellency Mr. Philemon Yang, President of the United Nations General Assembly, requesting an urgent meeting of the UN to convene. The General Assembly will demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire, establish and secure humanitarian aid corridors and guarantee Israel’s full withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories.

The letter also asks:

• The revival of the UN Committee Against Apartheid to address systemic violations of international law and human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories.
• Consideration of targeted boycotts, sanctions and divestments, especially against illegal operations in the occupied Palestinian territories.
• The imposition of an arms embargo against Israel.
• Investigating Israel’s suspension from the General Assembly until it complies with international law.

To further support these efforts, the letter calls for the establishment of an unarmed UN peacekeeping mission in the occupied Palestinian territories, under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, to guarantee the safety and dignity of all citizens.

In a sense, Israel has already moved away from the norms upheld by the UN Charter, as it has consistently ignored UN treaties, resolutions and opinions. We must not forget that Israel refuses to acknowledge its possession of nuclear weapons before the UN.

I was shocked during an initial planning meeting with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza when one of them spoke about the evacuation he and his family faced that same day and said, “We face the final solution. Israel is imposing the final solution on us.” Other participants said they had shivered day and night during the bombings.

Journalist Mehdi Hasan writes movingly in the Guardian about how absurd it is that the United Nations General Assembly agrees to appoint Israel as a UN member state.

Israel’s insulting rejection of the very idea of ​​the United Nations, its escalating and deadly violation of countless international norms, its repeated, deadly attacks on UN shrines and peacekeepers justify its expulsion. Hasan reminds us that Israel’s outgoing ambassador to the United Nations tore up the UN Charter while standing on the General Assembly podium.

This is the Charter declaring the UN mission to eradicate the scourge of warfare from future generations.

It is time for the clouds to part over the burning lands of Western Asia – for the suffering there to be comforted and for their merciless accusers to be rebuked by the assembled voice of humanity, by the agent who created Israel and who, when it wishes, justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

The work here is ours, so let our United Nations demand humanity from Israel and its imperial sponsor, the United States, not beg for it.