Analyzing the Israel-UN relation after the Hamas attack

After the Hamas attack on October 7, the conflict between Israel and the United Nations got worse. This leads to insults and questions about Israel’s place in the United Nations. Benjamin Netanyahu said the UN does not legally treat Israel. He called the UN biased and said it won’t be respected until this changes.

Over the past year, some people have claimed that Israel continuously committed genocide in Gaza. On it, Israel’s prime minister said that the UN stands in favor of terrorists and even blamed the United Nations chief for encouraging violence. 

Before the Hamas attack, Israel alleged that the UN did not treat them fairly. There has been an increasing concern for fairness since 2006. It was a time when more than a third of the UN’s condemnations had been aimed at Israel. This highlights the complexity between the UN and Israel, with each side accusing the other of bias.

In the last few days, ‌tensions have increased as Israel ‌has stepped up its strikes on Hezbollah in Lebanon. This is because Hezbollah started attacking Israel with rockets on October 8, just after Hamas attacked Israel with a large force.

The already tense relationship between the two sides worsened with this escalation. Cyrus Schayegh, a professor, highlighted things moving forward from bad to worse. 

With the attack by Hamas, many of Israel’s approximately 1200 lost their lives and 251 were taken hostage. Israel also reacted badly, and United Nations bodies have heavily opposed Israel’s military response in Gaza. Many in Israel now feel that the UN has betrayed them by siding against Israel during the conflict. At this time, 97 hostages are still in Gaza. And Israel claimed that 33 of them may be dead. The situation highlights the seriousness of the condition. This ongoing conflict makes ‌relations more fragile. At the same time, international criticism adds to Israel’s growing frustration.

Israel planned a military operation in Gaza. The nations have a goal to get rid of terror groups and free hostages. According to Gaza’s Health Ministers many Palestinians, approximately 41,000 Palestinians have been killed or are missing. But there is no confirmation that this figure is right or not and includes both civilians and fighters. However, Israel claimed that they killed 17000 fighters and 1000 different terrorist groups inside Israel on October 7. Israel says it tries to avoid civilian deaths but accuses Hamas of using civilians as shields by fighting from homes, schools, hospitals, and mosques. Israel has lost 348 soldiers in the conflict.

A few weeks after the attack, the UN Secretary-General faced criticism from Israel’s nation. Just because he supports Hamas and said this attack had reasons behind it. The reason was the 56 years of occupation faced by Palestinians. This shows the ongoing argument about the causes of the conflict and the difficulty in protecting civilians during war.

Ravina Shamdasani from the United Nations rights office is concerned that the conflict in the Middle East is eliminating people’s fears. They act without the danger of being punished. She highlighted that attacks on UN workers were unacceptable. UNRWA is the agency that supports Palestine, and Israel has been critical of this organization.  

During military operations in Gaza, Israel found Hamas weapons hidden in UNRWA buildings and connected some workers to the October 7 attacks. Because of this, funding for UNRWA has been reduced, with claims that many of its 13,000 employees in Gaza are linked to terrorist groups. Recently, nine UNRWA workers were fired for‌ being involved in the attacks. The head of UNRWA said that Israel is trying to weaken the agency, which has already lost over 220 staff members in Gaza during the fighting.

Francesca Albanese is a United Nations rights expert who supports Palestine. She got criticized because of her standing in favor of Palestine. Recently, she said Israel is becoming an outcast and questioned if it should be in the UN. Israeli leaders called her comments antisemitic and embarrassing. She has a history of making strange claims. She said that Jewish lobby has‌ full control over the US political landscape and is comparing Israelis to Nazis. 

She also faced criticism for saying Palestinians in Gaza might face genocide but did not mention Hamas’ attack. In February, Israel banned her for saying the attack was not based on hatred of Jews.