Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met with a visiting delegation of ambassadors to the United Nations.
By Erin Viner
The threat posed to Israel and the world community posed by Iran topped the agenda for discussion, which was held at the Prime Minister‘s Office in Jerusalem.
The delegation was headed by Israel Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan, and included the diplomatic envoys from South Korea, Argentina, Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Hungary, Nauru, Palau, Samoa and Zambia.
According to a statement TV7 obtained from the Prime Minister’s Media Advisor, talks also centered on additional regional challenges.
Prime Minister Bennett thanked the members of the delegation for their friendship and for visiting Israel.
He also “emphasized the potential for cooperation between the countries and noted that he expects that the friendship between the countries will find expression in the ambassadors’ activity at the UN,” said the statement.
The Israeli leader chastised the United Nations’ long record of bias against the Jewish State when he met with the world body’s Secretary General António Guterres in New York last September.
Ahead of his address at the annual General Assembly opening, Bennett used his meeting with Guterres “to tear into the international institution over its ‘discrimination’ against Israel; while stressing “that if the UN wants Israelis to take its institutions seriously, its members must start treating the Jewish State as an equal partner, as opposed to attacking it disproportionately,” a diplomatic official told Israeli media after the talks.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has rejoined the UN’s controversial Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and resumed funding to the Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees, reversing actions taken by his predecessor Donald Trump over strong anti-Israel platforms at both organizations.
During a later meeting with United States Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Bennett commented that “the reengagement of the United States with international institutions is a good opportunity to bring balance to these institutions vis-à-vis Israel,” according to a statement released by his media advisor obtained by TV7.
“Many times we feel these institutions are slanted and sometimes unfair and I think the new spirit between America and Israel can be brought to bear and we can do great things together,” he added, while thanking Amb. Thomas-Greenfield for her activity on behalf of the State of Israel at the UN as well as for America’s “unswerving” support of Israel.