Dina Rovner, UN Watch Legal Adviser, was interviewed by i24 News about Israel’s treatment at the United Nations in 2022.
i24 News: Let’s bring in Dina Rovner, legal adviser for UN Watch, joining us live this morning. Thank you so much for being with us. Now, the United Nations has a long history of passing resolutions against Israel and the US and Israel are both accusing it of bias. But Israel has also accused the Palestinians of trying to use the world body to perhaps make more peace negotiations on their behalf. What’s your take on all this?
Dina Rovner: Yeah, well, I think there’s really no question that what’s happening at the UN and what’s been going on at the UN for years, is an assault on Israel. It’s not to promote human rights, but to demonize Israel. And of course, as you mentioned, it is part of the Palestinian campaign. Now, I wouldn’t say it’s to promote peace. It’s actually contrary to peace. Because, the Palestinians have rejected all past peace offers that were ever put on the table and what they’re doing here in these resolutions is they’re trying to get Israel to - it’s really a demonization campaign against Israel - to kind of get more concessions for the Palestinians, and without them having to give anything up. So I would say it’s contrary to peace in the end.
i24 News: So on Friday, the United Nations approved a call for the International Court of Justice to weigh in on the Israeli Palestinian conflict. A lot of states voted in favor of this move. What do you have to say when a majority of the world do want an outside body to come and evaluate the situation and the conflict in particular?
Dina Rovner: Well, actually, it wasn’t a majority that voted in favor of the resolution. There were 87 countries that voted in favor of this resolution out of 193 UN member states; that’s a minority of UN member states. 26 countries opposed the resolution and 53 countries abstained. So, unfortunately, the way things work at the UN is there is an automatic anti-Israel majority and it’s kind of preordained, the result is kind of preordained. But I think it is favorable that so few countries voted in favor of this resolution compared to other anti-Israel resolutions at the UN,
i24 News: Dina Rovner, legal adviser for UN Watch. Thank you.
Dina Rovner: Thank you.
