Israel isolated as UN backs Palestine membership bid

The UN general assembly voted overwhelmingly yesterday to back a Palestinian bid for full UN membership, in a move that signalled Israel’s growing isolation amid global alarm over the war in Gaza and the extent of the humanitarian crisis .

- Julian Borger, Lorenzo Tondo

The assembly voted by 143 to nine, with 25 abstentions, for a resolution that called on the UN security council to bestow full membership on the State of Palestine, while enhancing its mission with a range of new rights and privileges, in addition to what it is allowed in its current observer status.

The highly charged gesture drew an immediate rebuke from Israel. Its envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, delivered a fiery denunciation of the resolution and its backers before the vote. “Today, I will hold up a mirror for you,” Erdan said, taking out the small paper shredder in which he shredded a small copy of the cover of the UN charter. He told the assembly: “You are shredding the UN charter with your own hands. Yes, yes, that’s what you’re doing. Shredding the UN charter. Shame on you.”

The Palestinian envoy, Riyad Mansour, pointed out the vote was being held at a time when Rafah, the city that is a last haven for many people in Gaza, faced attack from Israeli forces.

“As we speak, 1.4 million Palestinians in Rafah wonder if they will survive the day and wonder where to go next. There is nowhere left to go,” Mansour said. “I have stood hundreds of times before at this podium, often in tragic circumstances, but none comparable to the ones my people endured today … never for a more significant vote than the one about to take place, a historic one.”