Heads of state, prime ministers and foreign ministers have already arrived in New York to participate in the 77th annual session of the United Nations General Assembly, which opens today. Not even an indirect or implied reference to this global event was published in the local and national media, neither in the written press nor on television.
In the background of the tensions in Yosh: Lapid will meet with the King of Jordan on the sidelines of the UN assembly
Iran: “We do not rule out a discussion on the nuclear agreement on the sidelines of the UN Assembly in New York”
A reporter on a local TV channel warned viewers last night not to drive down East Manhattan. “Traffic congestion is expected due to the convoys of heads of state arriving at the UN building,” she said. The New York Times news website publishes today, as every day, a long list of over a hundred news, developments, events taking place in the US and foreign countries.
The opening of the UN General Assembly session in New York is not mentioned. The arrival of heads of state and government to the city in order to appear and give speeches at the general debate session does not appear in the updated news list at all. The understandable, inevitable conclusion is: simply, the international event is not interesting.
It is not new, for several years now that the annual assembly of the United Nations at the headquarters of the organization in Manhattan, is not considered an event of special significance, which arouses special interest. Neither from a media point of view, nor in the field of world politics. For several years, this annual world assembly in New York has no significance Or any practical consequences regarding crises, regional conflicts, internal wars, hardships of millions of populations in different parts of the world.
The common example that comes up in almost every conversation with a senior diplomat or reporter of a news agency and veteran commentator is the war in Syria. A war that has been going on for over ten years that has caused the death of about half a million civilians and six million displaced persons and refugees who fled Syria. There is not and does not exist even a declared official condemnation resolution of the Security Council against the ruler of Syria Assad. This is despite evidence and documented evidence of torture and executions of civilians carried out by the secret police in Syria.
In recent months, a more updated example of the UN’s impotence has emerged in the talks. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and solid evidence of the destruction of cities and towns and the massacre of civilians. Russia was expelled from the Human Rights Council in Geneva. Statement of condemnation against Russia. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres treats, reacts and speaks about the war in Ukraine with caution and demonstrated restraint.
In the last two years, beginning with and following the outbreak of the corona virus, the annual meetings of the United Nations were held in the physical absence of the heads of state and government who delivered speeches in the general debate session using the zoom method. But the corona epidemic also exposed and highlighted the inaction and capacity of the world organization. And data on the extent of the victims of the corona epidemic, the United Nations and the World Health Organization affiliated to it, did nothing, did not initiate anything practically in the effort to contain the corona.
Those who know, feel and are aware of the unstable and weakening relevance of the United Nations are the Organization’s Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the President of the 77th Annual Assembly Saba Kerszho, a veteran and respected Hungarian diplomat. In interviews that both of them gave and published in recent days, they review at length the severe crises afflicting the world, the problems of the climate crisis, the poverty that afflicts backward countries, the inequality and gaps in the population strata in UN member states. UN Secretary General Guterres returned shocked, amazed And was alarmed by a visit to Pakistan and the extent of the destruction of the floods and inundations there.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres (Photo: Reuters)“We have to do a lot immediately to curb climate change,” he stated in an interview. Assembly president Saba Kershaw warned of what he defined as “the coaching crisis shaking the world.” In a report published on behalf of the United Nations Development Program ahead of the annual meeting, it is claimed, “The world is in an uncertainty that has not been seen in human history.”
Secretary-General Guterres said that the current rally must be “a rally of change, for the people and for the universe.” How do you stop Russian President Vladimir Putin from continuing to destroy cities and towns in Ukraine and continue to massacre civilians, the UN Secretary-General had nothing to say, what According to the assessment of ambassadors and diplomats in New York, the main topic that will dominate the speeches that heads of state will give in the general debate session will most likely be the war in Ukraine.
The accompanying question in conversations for this assessment is, well, so what? What will the condemnations against Russia that will be heard in New York actually produce on the ground? The answers are depressing. All this, all that has been said up to this point, does not justify an assessment that diminishes the importance of Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s visit to New York on the eve of the UN General Assembly. Not at all. But it is worthwhile and desirable not to exaggerate. Despite criticism against Israel, unilateral decisions against it and speeches Hostiles, Israel is considered an important and high-quality member state.
Under the radar, Israel’s position at the United Nations headquarters in New York is that of a highly valued country, a bastion of democracy and with impressive achievements in quite a few areas, which member states take advantage of and adopt. The speeches that the Israeli prime ministers gave in the general debate session at the annual assemblies did not produce practical results. Nor were expected to yield.
An issue such as the future of the nuclear agreement with Iran, which was defined and warned as a threat to world peace at the center of Benjamin Netanyahu’s speeches at the annual rallies, did not produce any results and did not “move” any member state. The content of Prime Minister Yair Lapid’s expected speech on Thursday has been kept secret. What is no longer a secret is that if the Prime Minister does indeed remain faithful to the centrality of the issue of the nuclear deal with Iran in his speech, he will not change anything, nothing from the fact that this issue is at the bottom of the list of priorities of the United Nations and the member states, and perhaps does not appear on the list of priorities at all.