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The United Nations faces serious problems due to its extensive membership, hindering its ability to exert political leverage effectively. Moreover, a lack of resources further undermines its capacity to influence global affairs, ultimately eroding the credibility of its commitments. The problems are getting serious because of the geopolitical influence over international politics. The United Nations General Assembly has become a medium of “blame game” over the Palestine-Israel war in recent years. There is a trend going on every year that Israel blames Palestine, Hamas, and the countries that support Palestine. Meanwhile, Palestine calls for help to stop the genocide in Gaza and blame Israel. 

This year the 79th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) commenced on 10 September 2024 at UN headquarters with a warning about how a decaying rules-based order has handed several countries a "get out of jail free card," referring to the wars in Gaza, Sudan, and Ukraine by the UN secretary general Antonio Guterres. He directly addressed Israel's war in Gaza and the killing of Palestinian civilians. He condemned the countries involved in war directly and indirectly to invade another country or utterly disregard the welfare of the people. He also highlighted the violation of United Nations Charters and International Laws. He called for immediate ceasefire, unconditional release of all hostages, the end of murders, and the unlawful occupations in the foreign lands. 

Turkey’s president, Tayyip Erdogan, took sides with Palestine. He demanded the freedom of Palestine and pointed out the failure of the ceasefire in the Palestine-Israel war by saying, "The UN has failed to fulfill its founding mission and has gradually become dysfunctional." He blamed the world's big five nations for their bias during wars to fulfill their interest. He highlighted the destruction of infrastructure and the loss of lives by Israeli attacks. He compared Netanyahu with hitler for his murderous actions and claimed that Hamas and other Palestinian groups are resistant to the unlawful occupation of Israel to protect their people.

The Iranian president shows solidarity with Turkey and said that they don’t seek any war or quarrel, they seek peace and stability in the region. He said that the Israeli attack on Gaza and the killings must not be leveled as self-defense. Qatar, Colombia, Sweden, Jordan, Brazil, South Africa, Pakistan, and the majority of the nations emphasized humanitarian issues and called for the implementation of a ceasefire resolutions. 

In response to those harsh words, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, called the General Assembly debate an “annual charade of hypocrisy” because of the opening speech of Antonio Guterres for condemning Israel on the attacks on Gaza. He argued that UN member countries stay silent about releasing the hostages, murders, and Israeli migration issues but acknowledge the sufferings of Gaza.

Benzamine Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister, also strongly disagreed with Guterres and the Palestine supporters by claiming Israel as a victim of lies and slanders of the world.  He claimed they are in the real threat of destruction, eviction, and terrorist attacks. He added that Hamas still exercise some governing power in Gaza causing price hikes to extort money from people to stay in power. Netanyahu stated Israel’s determination to put an end to Hamas because of their nonstop attacks on Israel. He claims that the only condition to end this war is the surrender of Hamas with their arms, and the release of the hostages. He openly threatened Hamas and the supporters of Palestine to stop their unlawful involvement; otherwise, they will have to suffer the consequences. He highlighted that 174 resolutions had passed against Israel since 2014, twice as many as against the entire world combined. He added that the real war criminals are not in Israel; they are in Iran, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. He threatened Iran by saying if they continue to support Hamas they will face attacks which they can’t escape.

Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas emphasized the failure of cease fire despite repeated international calls to stop Israel's war crimes, genocide, and massive destructions. Almost 75% of Gaza is fully destroyed and immediate solutions are needed to ensure peace, stability, and security for both Palestine and Israel. 

The world' s nations are divided into three groups: those supporting Israel, Palestine, and neutral. The reasons behind this are not easy to understand. Geopolitical reasons, religious sentiment, and pressure from the neighboring countries or powerful nations of the world are the driving factors for those stances. Those who chose to stay silent are trying to avoid the evil eye of the powerful nations or any conflict. The first two groups are fighting an invisible war between them.

This year, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution that demands Israel to end the ‘unlawful presence’ in the occupied Palestinian Territory within 12 months. It calls for Israel to comply with international law and withdraw its military forces, immediately cease all new settlement activity, evacuate all settlers from occupied land, and dismantle parts of the separation wall it constructed inside the occupied West Bank. It was not a surprise that the resolution got a vote of 124 nations in favor, 14 against, and 43 abstentions. The resolution is based on an advisory opinion issued by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in July 2024, where they emphasized Israeli presence as illegal. Prior to this year, many resolutions were taken to stop the war between Palestine and Israel. But none of them could stop the war and the conflict between the countries involved in this war. This year, the world leaders are openly threatening one another in the UNGA.

So, the question remains: what are the roles of the UN in this matter? Is it still the “peace-making organization or just a helpless audience” of the world’s wars and conflicts?

Really Chakma is a Research Intern at CGS

Note: Views in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect CGS policy.