Every member of the UN belongs to one of five regional organizations that are responsible for distributing committee chairmanships as well as the rotating seats on the Security Council. Until 2004—when it was admitted to the Western European group—Israel was the one nation not included in a regional body, and was thus excluded from such positions. Now, writes the Israeli ambassador Danny Danon, Israel hopes to build on its admission to win a chance to sit on the Security Council:

It was only last year, in 2016, that I was elected to chair the Sixth (Legal) Committee, becoming the first Israeli to chair a UN permanent committee. What is usually a position confirmed by consensus [was obtained by] a protracted and complicated campaign in which we had to cajole and convince 109 countries to cast their ballot for an Israeli.

[Now] Israel has set the ambitious goal of obtaining one of the three non-permanent seats on the Security Council in 2019 [reserved for members of the Western Europe group]. To do so we must convince two-thirds of General Assembly members of the worthiness of this cause.

Make no mistake about it, we are as deserving as any other nation of this leadership role: Israel funds a higher percentage of the UN budget than do the other 65 countries yet to serve on the Security Council combined. Moreover, few countries have Israel’s firsthand experience of the failures of the UN—and its acute awareness of the possibilities were this organization to be set on the right path.

On our northern borders the peacekeeping forces of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) play a vital role in keeping volatile situations relatively stable. Still, this force has not lived up to its potential and must do much more to fulfill its mandates. Despite UNIFIL’s presence on the ground for decades, Hizballah has been allowed to grow largely unchecked. The Iran-backed terrorist group’s aggressive posture led to a bloody war in 2006. And more recently, it has increased its arsenal from 7,000 rockets in 2006 at the end of the Second Lebanon War to almost 150,000 rockets today, aimed at our cities and towns.

For some time, opponents of U.S support for Israel have been urging the White House to end the war in Gaza, or simply calling for a ceasefire. Douglas Feith and Lewis Libby consider what such a result would actually entail:

Ending the war immediately would allow Hamas to survive and retain military and governing power. Leaving it in the area containing the Sinai-Gaza smuggling routes would ensure that Hamas can rearm. This is why Hamas leaders now plead for a ceasefire. A ceasefire will provide some relief for Gazans today, but a prolonged ceasefire will preserve Hamas’s bloody oppression of Gaza and make future wars with Israel inevitable.

For most Gazans, even when there is no hot war, Hamas’s dictatorship is a nightmarish tyranny. Hamas rule features the torture and murder of regime opponents, official corruption, extremist indoctrination of children, and misery for the population in general. Hamas diverts foreign aid and other resources from proper uses; instead of improving life for the mass of the people, it uses the funds to fight against Palestinians and Israelis.

Moreover, a Hamas-affiliated website warned Gazans last month against cooperating with Israel in securing and delivering the truckloads of aid flowing into the Strip. It promised to deal with those who do with “an iron fist.” In other words, if Hamas remains in power, it will begin torturing, imprisoning, or murdering those it deems collaborators the moment the war ends. Thereafter, Hamas will begin planning its next attack on Israel:

Hamas’s goals are to overshadow the Palestinian Authority, win control of the West Bank, and establish Hamas leadership over the Palestinian revolution. Hamas’s ultimate aim is to spark a regional war to obliterate Israel and, as Hamas leaders steadfastly maintain, fulfill a Quranic vision of killing all Jews.

Hamas planned for corpses of Palestinian babies and mothers to serve as the mainspring of its October 7 war plan. Hamas calculated it could survive a war against a superior Israeli force and energize enemies of Israel around the world. The key to both aims was arranging for grievous Palestinian civilian losses. . . . That element of Hamas’s war plan is working impressively.