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Israel’s UN Ambassador Leaving When Needed Most
The government of Israel will be losing a key and effective diplomat in New York just when it needs her most.
Israel’s UN Ambassador Gabriela Shalev, highly praised for her low-key, thoughtful and compassionate work these last two years, is returning to Israel and her academic life at the end of this month on the eve of what some Israeli officials here are already predicting will be a “Black September” for the Jewish state at the UN.
That’s because next month’s General Assembly is expected to take up such difficult and contentious issues as the Goldstone Report on Israel’s alleged war crimes during the Gaza invasion of 2008, the flotilla incident earlier this summer, and the coming end of the Netanyahu government’s freeze on West Bank construction – plus the annual visit of Iranian President Ahmadinejad.
Defying logic, Israel chooses to appoint a new ambassador to the UN just prior to the most important event on the world body’s annual calendar, the General Assembly, which brings in international leaders for key presentations and consultations.
Ask Israeli officials why the government couldn’t make the transition months earlier, to give the new diplomat time to meet key personnel and gain experience, and they simply shrug.
To make matters worse, the open political wrangling between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, plays out on a grand scale when it comes to key diplomatic appointments, under the authority of the foreign ministry. The top UN post is a case in point. The two leaders couldn’t reach consensus so Meron Reuben, the new appointee who most recently served as Ambassador to Colombia, is here on an interim basis. A veteran but little-known diplomat, he is a native of South Africa and apparently impressed Lieberman when the foreign minister visited South America last summer.
In an interview this week, Ambassador Shalev acknowledged that “politically, Israel is more isolated than ever before” at the UN, “the only country in the world whose existence is challenged” there.
Shalev was effusive in her praise of the U.S. as the staunchest of allies, and on both a personal and professional level, of American Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice.
“She is a wonderful friend,” she said of Rice, who she said was instrumental in convincing China and Russia to sign on to tougher UN sanctions on Iran.
Rice, in turn, recently described Shalev as “one of my favorite people,” and ranked her “as among the best representatives that Israel has ever had at the United Nations for her dedication, her skill and her extraordinary heart.”
But Shalev observed that as a result of President Obama’s “new policy of engagement” and attempt at dialogue with Iran and the Muslim world, the “American mission is more popular now at the UN, people feel it; the U.S. tries to be more balanced.”
Shalev had good relationships with a number of diplomats, including those from the Arab world. That didn’t mean she persuaded them to change their views, but she felt they listened to her with respect.
Her advice to her successor? “I hope he has more time to focus on the Israel beyond the conflict.”
That was her intention two years ago, but circumstances – most notably the Goldstone report, which she said took up “so much energy” – intervened.
Shalev plans to return to academia and work on two books on legal issues like contract laws, her expertise.
She will be missed.
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The post Israel’s UN Ambassador Leaving When Needed Most appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
The post UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
The post Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
The post Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.