Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan pulled out a paper shredder at the podium of the General Assembly on Friday and shredded a copy of the U.N. Charter to protest a resolution in support of Palestinian membership.
“Today I will hold up a mirror for you,” he said, shortly before the general assembly overwhelmingly voted to back Palestinian membership. “This is your mirror. So that you can see exactly what you are inflicting upon the U.N. Charter with this destructive vote.”
“You are shredding the U.N. Charter with your own hands,” he said, while he shredded the charter with his own hands.
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He thanked the president, and then stormed off, later posting a statement to X that read: “Today, I demonstrated to the General Assembly what they are doing to the UN Charter by ignoring it and shredded it on the stage. I told the ambassadors that today will go down in infamy and I want the world to remember when they shredded the UN Charter to advance a Nazi regime into the UN’s ranks.”
Erdan’s dramatic display did not have the desired effect.
The U.N. assembly voted 143-9 to expand the rights of Palestine. Twenty-five nations abstained, and nine nations voted against, including Israel and the United States. The resolution urges the U.N. Security Council to “reconsider the matter” of Palestinian membership “favorably.”
In April, a measure for Palestinian membership failed at the Security Council, and the U.S. has warned that it will vote to veto the measure a second time.
Farhan Haq, a U.N. spokesperson, responded to Erdan’s stunt in a statement to the press. “This is an organization that is premised on respect for the UN charter and all of the member states have pledged to uphold the UN charter and we expect them to fulfill that obligation,” he said. “As long as this organization exists, the charter exists.”
