On June 13, 2016, Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon was elected to head the UN Legal Committee, which is one of the UN's six permanent committees. This is the first time an Israeli ambassador will chair one of these committees, and his election came despite objections from two groups - one of Arab states and another of Muslim states. However, according to the London-based Qatari daily Al-Quds Al-Arabi, which reported on Arab and Muslim efforts to thwart Danon's election, at least four Arab states, which it did not name, had supported Danon's candidacy. As proof of this, the daily published Danon's statement following the vote, in which he refrained from criticizing any Arab state.
The following are excerpts from the Al-Quds Al-Arabi report:
Arab, Muslim Countries Opposed Israel's Candidacy And Worked To Thwart It
Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported: "Despite the objections of the Arab group represented by Yemeni Ambassador Khalid Al-Yamani, and the Islamic group represented by Kuwaiti Ambassador Mansour Al-'Otaibi, the UN General Assembly today elected Israel to chair the sixth committee - the Legal Committee - one of the General Assembly's six important committees. Western European and other countries submitted Israel's candidacy for the post, for the first time in the history of the UN.
"Prior to the vote, Kuwait's ambassador to the UN, who served as representative of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries, said: 'The state that is a candidate for the post must be a member state that obeys international law and that is actively working to implement UN resolutions - not a state that violates international law... and UN resolutions... States must bear the responsibility to present for this post candidates upon whom there can be agreement. This candidacy [of Israel] contradicts the principle of good intentions... Electing Israel, [a state that] violates the foundations of international law, international treaties, and UN resolutions, will damage the image of the UN."
Danon Received 109 Votes; At Least Four Arab Countries Supported Him
According to Al-Quds Al-Arabi, after the efforts by Arab and Muslim countries to thwart Israel's candidacy for the chair of the committee had failed, they demanded that the current committee chair, the Trinidad and Tobago ambassador, call a vote on Israel's candidacy. Such a move is against the accepted custom of arrival at a consensus in advance of the vote of approval in the General Assembly. Yemeni Ambassador Al-Yamani said on behalf of the group of Arab countries that opposed Danon's election: "We requested a secret ballot in order to register our vehement opposition to Israel's candidacy for chair of the Legal Committee..."
Accordingly, a secret ballot was then held; in it, Danon received 109 votes of a possible 193, with the Arab and Muslim countries that opposed him writing in candidates.
Following his election as committee chairman, Danon said that Iran had circulated an announcement calling for not voting for him. However, Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that this announcement had actually been circulated by Kuwait; the daily noted that "Danon's statement [following the vote] included no criticism of the Arab group" that had opposed him, and added that "diplomatic sources say that at least four Arab countries supported the Israeli candidate."
Palestinian Representative: U.S., Canada, Australia "Used All Manner Of Blackmail And Threats To Guarantee A Vote For Israel"
According to the daily, Palestinian Permanent Observer Riyad Mansour said after the vote: "Although we only found out shortly before the vote that a group of Western European and other nations had decided to present Israel's candidacy for chair of the committee, we conducted intensive meetings with this group, and pressured it to refrain from rewarding, instead of punishing, a country that occupies the land of another while violating international law.
"After that, we attempted to persuade countries in this group to present the candidacy of another country, but without success. We reached out to many in this group, trying to convince them to present their own candidacy, saying that we would raise the votes for them, but they refused.
"Then, we discussed the matter with the Arab and Islamic group, in order to agree on an alternate plan. We agreed to divide the votes against Israel among candidates from that same group [of Western European countries] so as to prevent the Israeli candidate from receiving 50%+1 of the votes. We attempted to recruit all our friends to prevent the Israeli ambassador from receiving the minimum number of votes required, but without success. However, we did manage to deny him 84 votes, which is important and respectable. He only received 109 votes; the minimum required is 77. Had we managed to change the votes of another 16 representatives, his candidacy would have been automatically cancelled..."
Mansour then warned that the non-unanimous vote for Danon could impact the work of the committee: "The heads of the five other committees were elected by consensus, but not [the head of] the sixth committee. The schism is clear from the outset. How will the committee operate during the 71st session of the General Assembly? There is a split in the General Assembly over Danny Danon's provocative personality. The sixth committee will grind to a halt because of this split."
Mansour then thanked the Arabs and Muslims, and all those who stood by them, and criticized "a massive force" that he said "had used all crooked means, and extortion - particularly on smaller nations - to get them to vote for Israel. Israel did not succeed on its own - only thanks to the efforts of the U.S., Canada, and Australia, which used all manner of blackmail and threats to guarantee a vote for Israel. Many countries submitted to these pressures out of their fear of the superpowers, instead of standing with the truth and against the oppression represented by the occupation state.
"We now face a double standard on the part of several countries. Israel is becoming increasingly extreme, and is turning its back on all peace initiatives, including the recent French initiative; it is expanding its settlement activities, and is violating international law in everything it does. [And after all this,] the international community rewards it.
"We must carefully consider our next move. I believe that in a year or two, this group [of Western European countries] will present Israel's candidacy for the Security Council."[1]
Endnote:
[1] Al-Quds Al-Arabi (London), June 13, 2016.
